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CAPE CANAVERAL - If you want to experience the real United States, visit John F. Kennedy Space Center as a tourist. I did so on Saturday.
KSC is not about making war. It is about space exploration.
As a high school junior, I was at the Cape on Feb. 20, 1962, when John Glenn blasted into space for the first time on Friendship 7, and I was here in October 1998, when, at age 77, Glenn went up the second time on the shuttle Discovery.
Between those two flights, I saw eight other liftoffs at the site, all as a journalist. Although the view from the press area is spectacular, I realize now that it gave me only a glimpse of what goes into launching a craft into space and how that process exemplifies NASA's brilliance and the character and aspirations of our nation.
Located on Florida's Space Coast on the Atlantic Ocean, less than an hour's drive from Orlando, KSC spreads over 14,000 acres of land, swamp and waterways. I was one of thousands of tourists who spent two days touring the 30-year-old Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and restricted area sites, which we reached by bus. The center's story and that of NASA are presented through tours of the Apollo/Saturn V Center, Launch Complex 39 Observation Gantry and the International Space Station Center.
The facility attracts more than 2-million Americans and foreign guests a year. As you drive into the Visitor Complex, you immediately see the full-sized replica of the space shuttle Explorer, and as you enter it, you get the feeling of traveling through space. Everything about it looks real: the flight deck, where the astronauts fly the orbiter during launch and landings; the middeck, where shuttle crews work on experiments, sleep, eat and use the toilet; the cargo bay, where satellites, the laboratory and the space station modules grab a ride into orbit. You suddenly learn that the shuttle is a high-tech flying truck. Along with the orbiter, you see the other components necessary for launching the orbiter: the huge, orange external fuel tank and the two rocket boosters.
The Launch Status Center is next to Explorer. Here, visitors get real-time, live briefings on NASA launch and space flight operations. According to NASA, "During space shuttle missions, live views from orbit are shown on monitors and guests can watch the astronauts working in space."
My favorite place at the main complex is the Rocket Garden. Here, you can walk within a few feet of the actual fuel-powered Redstone, Atlas and Titan rockets that first put Americans in space. Interestingly, except for the giant Apollo Saturn 1B rocket, which NASA built from scratch, all the crafts were originally designed for the military. NASA adapted them for peaceful use. I spent more than an hour in the garden, studying the rockets, their noses pointing into the clouds.
A great experience awaits you in the Dr. Kurt H. Debus Conference Facility. Here, you see the original Mission Control Room consoles that monitored and tracked the flights of Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and Glenn. Complete with lights, signals and recorded voices, a launch is recreated.
The IMAX experience is a must. NASA comments that "astronauts themselves say watching an IMAX film is the next best thing to actually being in space. They should know - because astronauts shoot virtually all the space footage you'll see at the center." I watched one of the 3-D films on a five-story screen. Special effects and a wall of perfect sound transported me to the International Space Station with the crews.
I had lunch with an astronaut. And I, like others, visited the Space Mirror, a project of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. This is a moving experience. Dedicated in 1991, the monument occupies six acres, and contains the names of U.S. astronauts who have died in the line of duty. Those lost recently on Columbia will be added soon.
The bus ride to the restricted areas is memorable. From a safe distance, visitors see, among other sites, the KSC Headquarters, the Operations and Checkout Building, the Space Station Processing Facility, the Launch Control Center, Launch Pads 39A and 39B, where all systems go for launch. We went inside the Apollo/Saturn V Center and walked beneath the complete restored Saturn V moon rocket. Displayed horizontally, it is longer than a U.S. football field.
Any citizen who has not spent at least one day at Kennedy Space Center should do so. This place is real America. Its presence should not be taken for granted. Even as workers piece together Columbia, astronauts are training for the Endeavour mission. "They're eager to get back into space," an official said. "They know the risks."