NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building

I took these pictures on March 19 when hubby and I visited the Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of Atlas V Ι SBIRS GEO 2. We were riding the Kennedy Space Center bus tour to reach the Apollo Saturn V area, the closest location in KSC to watch the launch. The bus tours usually pass by the Vehicle Assembly Building. There are select tours that guests are allowed to tour inside the VAB. As for me, haven't got the chance yet.

The Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB is important in the history of Science because this was built and used to assemble the Saturn V Rocket during the Apollo Program. This building is huge in fact; it is the largest single-story building in the world. Yep, it is only one story.

Later, I will show you how the Vehicle Assembly Building looks like from our neighborhood.  

The driver of the bus tour mentioned a lot of facts about this building including that the flag painted on the building is the largest in the world.

It is 209 feet high and 110 ft wide. Each star is 6 feet across and take note, that blue field on the flag that you see on the VAB, the size of that is like the size of a basketball court. That building is humongous.

The photo below was taken along the riverbanks of Indian River about 5 minutes from our place. I was using the zoom of my Samsung WB150F.

The last photo below is the normal caption. I was looking at the VAB which is really tiny.

That's all for now folks. If you are in Orlando, you should visit Kennedy Space Center and see the Vehicle Assembly Building yourself.

NASA Parkway West in Titusville

How was your Valentine's day celebration everyone? Did you get the gift you wanted? I told my husband I don't want chocolates because, we have stocks of chocolates at home and I don't want flowers that will wither in days. Instead, I told him to give me orchids and tulips in the planter. Happy me, that's what I got! Anyway, I hope you have a blast yesterday guys! Early morning, I went out to meet a group of people along Merritt Island. I told hubby that we will take the route in NASA Parkway. First important building on this road which is just 10 minutes away from our place is the US Astronaut Hall of Fame Building. This place has the world's largest collection of American astronaut's personal memorabilia.

The body of water to either sides of NASA Parkway is the Indian River Lagoon. I always look out the window to see a glimpse of dolphin swimming right here. Most of the time, I saw them swimming in this area.

Check out the photo below. This road is about 2 miles long and it connects the mainland Florida to Merritt Island while the NASA Causeway connects Merritt Island to Cape Canaveral. Anyway, this road is the main route heading to Kennedy Space Center and also to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This picture though is showing that we were heading to Titusville from the Kennedy Space Center.

Now, the photo below shows the Assembly Building in Kennedy Space Center. See the tiny building across the water? That's the Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB, the largest single-story building in the world, and the tallest building in the United States outside an urban area.

VAB was used to assemble American manned launch vehicles. This building was originally built for the vertical assembly of the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo program. This building is where Space Shuttle orbiters were mated with their solid rocket boosters and external fuel tanks. When space shuttles are assembled and complete, the Crawler-Transporter will move the shuttle to the Launch Complex 39. If you are interested to read more, you can search some photos and entry posts about VAB and the crawler in my blog too.

The picture below shows bascule bridge and it allows some boats on the Intercoastal Waterway to pass through the causeway. Saw it twice already and it was cool.

If you happen to pass by this road, look at the waters in both sides, you might see the dolphins. They are always seen here. In fact, I saw one dolphin at this moment but, wasn't able to take a photo. Too fast :-) !

Passing the bascule bridge and you will enjoy 180 degrees of amazing view of nature.

That's all for now. Next set of photos will be along NASA Commerce area where we saw 3 wild baby gators along the canal.

See you next time. That's my hubby driving and the red beads display is one of my favorite beads from Mardi Gras parade. Don't forget to check out my blog post everyday. Stay happy and be inspired with the beauty of nature. Thanks for stopping by.

Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

Two days ago, hubby and I decided to visit NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This place is about 15 minutes away from where we live. On the main street of our neighborhood, we can actually see this building, pretty cool huh?Anyway, this is called Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and it is the fourth-largest structure in the world by volume and was the largest when completed in 1965.It was mentioned by our tour guide that the VAB is the largest single-story building in the world. Oh yeah, it is only a single story building. This place is where they assemble the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program. This was the tallest building in Florida until 1974 and is still the tallest building in the United States outside an urban area. These are pretty fascinating facts right? Check out the picture below.Did you see the building which was pointed by the arrow (picture above)? That's the Vehicle Assembly Building and I took the picture from the bridge heading to Kennedy Space Center.The tour bus drove at the back of the Assembly Area for us to see the huge crawler. Are you planning to visit Florida any time soon? You should check out NASA's Kennedy Space Center. You will definitely love this place.

Lunar Roving Vehicle

When we visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, this vehicle was an amazing display that I was so excited and curious to see. This is the moon vehicle used by the astronauts. The LRV was designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon and capable of traversing the lunar surface. This is the real lunar vehicle used in the Apollo program. The display is in the Apollo/Saturn V Center Building.