Being that Justin also works for USA, we got to go on a little field trip. USA held a kind of "let your family see where you work" day and we got to see areas of the space center that only employees get to see. We started off in the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and toured around there.
We saw the pieces of the new Ares rocket (a lot of the parts are made, they just aren't assembled yet), as well as the ET tank (external fuel tank) with the SRBs (solid rocket boosters) attached hanging up in the air in one of the bays. It was very neat to see just the building alone, which is one of the largest buildings in the world. We also got to go into OPF1 (Orbiter Processing Facility 1) and walk underneath the shuttle Atlantis herself while she was suspended in the air to be worked on.
Lastly, we went to Pad B which used to be a launchpad they used for the shuttle program, but is currently being renovated to hold the new Ares rockets. It was all very surreal to see up close. It's one thing to live across the river from this major player in the history of our country and the world, but it's quite another to actually see it up close and personal. I'm very glad we got to go, and hope there is another day to go again.
We saw the pieces of the new Ares rocket (a lot of the parts are made, they just aren't assembled yet), as well as the ET tank (external fuel tank) with the SRBs (solid rocket boosters) attached hanging up in the air in one of the bays. It was very neat to see just the building alone, which is one of the largest buildings in the world. We also got to go into OPF1 (Orbiter Processing Facility 1) and walk underneath the shuttle Atlantis herself while she was suspended in the air to be worked on. 
Lastly, we went to Pad B which used to be a launchpad they used for the shuttle program, but is currently being renovated to hold the new Ares rockets. It was all very surreal to see up close. It's one thing to live across the river from this major player in the history of our country and the world, but it's quite another to actually see it up close and personal. I'm very glad we got to go, and hope there is another day to go again.
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