"To the moon Alice, to the moon!"

We spent Valentine's Day at Kennedy Space Center. It was amazing! We never expected to learn so much or experience the history of the space race (when it all began in 1958-59) through to today (when a shuttle lifted off just last week to return February 20/08).

They have a tour that takes you around the Merritt Island location to the 3 major sites: the observation tower, the Apollo/Saturn V Center (where we saw the Saturn V rocket and manned space module), and the international space station (where you could walk through where the astronauts live and work in space). At this last facility, we saw the Canadarm and a short video by Marc Garneau. We also visited the memorial to commemorate those 'test pilots' who lost their lives. It was not a busy day nor a hot day so the touring around was easy.

We attended a IMAX 3-D movie narrated by Tom Hanks called the "Magnificent Desolation" that was about those who had walked on the moon - and there are many more astronauts who have done that than we ever knew or remembered. Last but not least, we went into a simulator for a shuttle rocket launch and felt the 'twang' and the acceleration and pressure of T-10, 9, 8, etc... it was a blast!