What rare luck!

While in Florida, we had planned to go to Cape Canaveral.  Space and the associated technology was a big piece of Utah's 6th grade science curriculum and I had loved a trip there once before--years ago.  We were planning to go on Saturday, but a rainy, blustery day on Thursday made us switch plans so we could go to Sea World when the weather was supposed to be better.  How lucky was that?!  We took the bus tour out to the observation gantry where one can see the two main launch pads.  The space shuttle Endeavour, on the enormous Crawler, was stopped on its special road to the launch site.  I don't know why it had stopped, but we were thrilled.  We got a close up that few people ever do.  Even the guides were all abuzz.  NASA usually shuts down the observation gantry while the shuttle is on its way; it was the closest the guides had been too.

If you make the picture bigger, you can see people on the Crawler and a van parked in front.  It was soooo cool.  The second picture shows the helicopter that circled Cape Canaveral the entire time we were there.  One side was open and there was a person sitting in the doorway--keeping watch.

We also saw the rocket garden, the Saturn 5 rocket replica (so enormous), a cool presentation about our voyages to the moon, full-sized models of the shuttle and boosters, and a 3-D movie about the International Space Station (among other displays).  But, the real Endeavour, on its way to the launch pad for a trip to the ISS in mid-November really iced our cake.  Thank goodness for plan changes and bad weather. 

I e-mailed my friend who taught space science with me, and she has posted one of my pictures on her site.  She works now for the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center so she is still involved in space science education and I knew she would be jealous and excited for me.  She was.