Visiting the NASA Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral

There is only one way to describe a visit to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.  Worth the price of admission, and that includes the tickets for the cruise ship we came in on.

Note, this was originally published, Dec, 2014.  Things may have changed since then.

There are lots of models like this:

The NASA Dream Chaser.  A smaller shuttle craft which seats 7, set to fly 2016.  (Update, this project is still in the works, with production finally approved in Dec, 2018, for flight in 2020.  See https://spacenews.com/dream-chaser-cleared-to-begin-full-scale-production/

)

And this:

A mock up of the Orion capsule, which sleeps 4.  First space flight was 12/5/2014.

Any day is a good day when you can say this is the second most powerful rocket you have ever seen.

A 1 - 1 scale model of the space shuttle's boosters and fuel tank.  150 feet tall, total thrust about 6.1 million pounds.

The most powerful rocket being the Saturn V, lying on it's side.  At 363 feet in length, with 6.5 million pounds of thrust.

Saturn V main thrusters, at 1-1 scale.

I know I am blowing out the margins on the above picture, but it deserves the extra space.  I'll stop doing that now.

Adults also 1-1 scale, Saturn V boosters in front, while the second and third stages are somewhere in the distance.

Saturn V 1st stage.  2nd and 3rd stage is in the distance.

Saturn V's 2nd Stage.  3rd stage is still off in the distance.

3rd Stage.

Apollo Capsule.

Lunar Lander.

And the Lunar Rover.  I see that NASA had "Run Flat" tires long before Firestone.

This is all real equipment.  The Saturn V rocket here was built for the canceled Apollo 19 flight.

A mock up of the launch controls:

With sound effects, this takes me back to the launch specials on TV in the 60's

Then there is the "Rocket Garden"

From left to right, Atlas-Agena, Delta, Juno-I, Gemini-Titan, Juno II, (partially behind the Gemini). The one on it's side is a Saturn I. I don't think the green rocket with red bow's ever flew though.

A Gemini Capsule.

Gemini-Titan.  109 feet tall, with 430,000 pounds of thrust

Saturn I.  180 feet tall, with 1.5 million pounds of thrust.

In the foreground, a Delta rocket (90 feet tall, 152,000 pounds of thrust), in the background, Juno I (70 feet tall, with 83,000 pounds of thrust).

A tight fit for anyone.

A picture of the gift store, but with that box-rocket in the ceiling, who could resist?

As awesome as these displays are, I saved the best for last.  On display here is one of the 4 surviving space shuttles, the Atlantis.  The lead in to the display are two short films.  The first with a bit of history of the start of the program.

This is the original prototype space shuttle.  Made of paper and wood, and it actually glided.

Then we move to this theater.  Nothing I can show or describe can give you a adequate feel of this experience.  A cave, about 60 feet wide, 100 feet deep and 30 feet tall.  All the surfaces have a video for Atlantis's first launch.  Followed up by seeing it in space rotating its body and maneuvering the Canadarm to capture the Hubble Space telescope.

The screen fades a bit, then in front of you it rises into the ceiling, then you see this:

Space Shuttle Atlantis. 

Grabbing the space telescope Hubble.

Atlantis's main engines.

Atlantis, port side front quarter.

I am not sure on the rules.  Do you need a drivers license, or a passport to fly this thing?

Canadarm simulator.

One of the first things a crew does, when it is assigned a mission, is to work up a mission patch.  It is considered a team building exercise. 

The Hall of Patches

The Shuttle mobile.

The Emergency Exit.

A children's scale model of the International Space Station.  Completely crawl through.

The ISS "Play Area", Entrance.

View of Atlantis from underneath, port side.

Other features.  Snoopy was the name of the lunar lander for Apollo 10, the Command Module was named Charlie Brown.  Snoopy never actually made it to the moon having been intercepted by the Red Baron on the way as described in the lyrics of the song, "The Smallest Astronaut" by the Royal Guardsmen.

Then there is the Angry Birds Space Encounter.

OK, this is a bit weird...

This is a spectacular piece of wall art.

A 30 minute lecture by Ken Cameron.  An astronaut of 3 shuttle missions.

Ken Cameron Q&A.  Despite prodding by our tour guides, no one asked about how you crap in space.

All in all a wonderful trip.  I look forward to going again when not time constrained.  One note.  Don't come here on an empty stomach.  The eateries are at best, poor, and totally insufficient to the task of feeding a bus loads of people.  I think it took about 45 minutes to get through the line, and there was a lot of people behind us.  Ditto the gift shop lines.  This is not just a one day problem, as I have seen references alluding to this problem in commentary elsewhere.

Celtic Fest 2014

England went to war in Scotland with an army of Irish Mercenaries, Welsh Longbowmen and English Knights.  The plucky Scots replied with bag pipes and sticks.  But the Scottish stick, called a caber, was 19 feet long and this one weighed 135 pounds:

Here is the lift.

The beginning of the throw

End over end.  The black tape is not of any significance.  It was a duct tape repair job after the caber was broken in an earlier toss.

1 to toss it, and 5 to return the bloody thing.

 Of these two weapons of war, it was the bag pipe that the English tried to ban in the1700's

These photographs were taken from the Celtic Classic event this weekend.  Where the national finalists for the Celtic Highland Games competed in Bethlehem Pennsylvania.  It was wonderful seeing those big men throw big things across the field.  One man beat the record for throwing a 56 pound weight to a height of 17'9", then took his third shot and broke the record again at 18' 6". 

Something You Don't See Everyday (Part 2)

Here is something you don't see everyday.  Imagine you kayaking on a small lake, no more than 2 miles wide from end to end, and a hundred miles from the ocean.  The scene is quiet except for the paddling of nearby boats, and the faint rustle of fabric from the sunfish sailboats.  The reverie is broken by a horn.  You turn, and see this:

The Norseman.

The Viking ship Norseman is owned by the Leif Ericson Viking Ship, Inc.  This ship has sailed in many a strange water including Sweden and Russia, but mainly stays close to the American east coast.

Their website is at the Viking Ship.

The Magicians Birthday

Tales From the Table Top

Location: Dave and Kitty’s Kitchen

Game: D&D 3.5

Mission: Find our way out of here!

Players: Dave (Game Master), Kitty, Leona, Phil, Phil and Mike

I run the Bard.  Why do I run the Bard?  Because our party contains my teenage son and I don’t want to dominate the game with a powerful character.  What better character to emphasize support and team building?  So while everyone is buffing up for combat and initiative, I don’t worry about any of that.  Spells to enhance strength?  If I do get into combat, would a +2 on my Die 6 attack really matter, so why bother?  Initiative?  It doesn’t matter when my Bard songs buff up the party, they don’t take effect till the next round anyway.  I may be packing a Masterwork  +5 rapier, but it hasn’t drawn blood in months!

But there are moments.

There are 5 members in our party, two rangers, a cleric, a monk and my bard.  We’re standing at a door at the end of a corridor that was shrouded in ice.  A quick peek revealed a White Dragon taking his ease upon his hoard.  We shut the door and backed up to make plans.  Encountering the White Dragon was not a surprise.  The temperature had been dropping rapidly as we explored this area.  The final hundred or so feet was absolutely perilous with ice.

Coming back to the door, fully buffed with all sorts of flammables at hand, and we opened the door.  The Dragon slammed us with a cone of cold.  Our two rangers, all prepped with flaming arrows, started to pepper the Dragon, while our Monk, hands covered in fire wraps, stood firm holding a tower shield to mitigate the Dragon breath.  (And what turned out to be a supporting Magic Users spells!)  Our Cleric healed the front ranks in turn, and with each round, we were whittling the Dragon down.

The Dragon, or rather the DM, saw that this long range encounter was rapidly not going his way.  He went down his list of spells and found some kind of dimension door.  The next instant found the Monk looking straight into the Dragon’s maw.

                                         

I was amazed!  Other than the surprise, this was wonderful.  “Now wait a minute Dave, are you trying to tell me that the Dragon was losing so badly that the only way it could fix the problem was by teleporting the human buzz saw right next to it”, I asked.

“I just rolled a random PC, that’s all”, he replied.

After taking a chomp and a claw, the Monk proceeded to do what he does best.  He leaped over the Dragon so as to be shielded from the bow fire, and proceeded to lay on a couple sets of “Fury of Blows”, racking up about 150 points of damage on the critter.  Meanwhile the Rangers shifted their focus on to the Mage, while our other heavy hitter, a Cleric with a Holy Falchion ran towards the fray.

The Bard, marched into the cavern, bagpipes screaming “Scotland the Brave”.  The music focus allows long range critical heals on the Monk to keep him in action.  It would take the Cleric 2 rounds to engage the Dragon and 4 for the Bard. 

After two more rounds, the Dragon had had enough and leaped off of its meager hoard into a nearby basin of water.  The Monk leaped after him, engaging the beast in what had to be 32.1 degree water.  The Bard was out of critical heals and reaching the low end of his repertoire with only light heals.  Even with heat wraps and presence of mind, the Monk was accruing damage from hypothermia, tooth and claw faster than we could take them off.  It was also noted that the Dragons wounds were closing and he was beginning to look healthier.  The icy water was regenerating him!

The exasperated Cleric, having run another two rounds to engage the Dragon, was getting pissed off about the situation.  But the Bard unperturbed, marched steadily onward to the now unoccupied hoard.

The enemy Mage retreated to beyond bow reach and was focusing her attacks on the Monk, and despite receiving 5 heals, he was going down soon. 

Now seven rounds into the fight, the Bard had his moment.  I saw it coming many turns earlier, and if the Dragon would condescended to live long enough, the Bard would have the spotlight.

The Bard dropped the bagpipes, which deflated on its own weight with a mournful tone.   Scooping up some of the gold, he stood atop the mound of treasure; a glorious tenor (Charisma of 27) voice rang out.

I challenge you, I challenge you all
For all you own and all you know
And by all the powers of darkness
I will steal what is mine

Surrender now or face my spite
I grant you it may be Friday night
But did you know this day
Also numbers thirteen.*

With the Dragon’s attention fully gathered, the Bard released the pilfered coinage in a steady stream.  It’s catlike eyes narrowed to the barest slit, the whites going instantly red.  It gathered itself for what would be a devastating body blow to the Bard.

The party looked at me in horror and demanded, “What are you doing?”

The Bard was in his element, unconcerned: because for now, the performance was everything.  He removed his feathered cap, his hair waving in an unfelt breeze in perfect sync with the flutter of his cape.  He drew forth his flaming sword which as of yet has never drawn blood, letting it rock gently in front of him with a confidence he did not feel.  I held up the Out of Character card and replied, “I’m buying you guys two more melee rounds.”

The challenge could not be denied, the Dragon leaped, shaking the Monk off its back.  The Monk made his dexterity roll and landed catlike on his feet upon dry ground. 

The Cleric had arrived; the timing was perfect, as was her rolling two crits with her Holy Falchion.  The Dragon was gutted as he flew overhead and fell into ruin upon her.  (Only the Cleric’s plate mail armor protected her from doing an amount of damage that would have squashed the Bard flat.)

The enemy Mage teleported out at that point, and we were left wounded but victorious, sitting on a dragon’s horde.

* Excerpted from “The Magician’s Birthday”, with apologies to Uriah Heep.

Christmas at Stokesay Castle

http://stokesay.net/

The new needs friends.

Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source.  In a nearly perfect replica of the thirteenth century Stokesay castle constructed in Reading Pa, in 1932.  The Christmas decorations were tasteful.  The outdoor fire ring was well appreciated in the 28 degree weather.  

The interior was pleasant, with piped in Christmas music, and a roaring live fire. The staff was beyond perfect in attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile to satisfy.  I lack the words to describe the meal, but to say that each course was so extraordinarily fabulous as to be off the scale of any superlatives I could offer.  I will be returning to Stokesay's soon, hungry for more.

It was a great night.