We’re in Merritt Island, FL now.  It’s on the Atlantic Coast and is where Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center are.  This part of Florida was chosen as the site for almost all of the rockets, manned space flights and shuttle flights for three reasons: 1) it’s on the Atlantic coast which gives a buffer of safety for any flights as they rise through the sky in case of failure (they’ll crash in the ocean), 2) this part of Florida was relatively unpopulated in the 1950s and NASA was able to get a huge amount of land for their needs.  Most of the land is a natural wildlife refuge as they only use small portions of the land they were given! And, 3) it’s near the equator which gives an extra boost of power as a rocket or ship takes off.  I can’t explain why that is so – any techie folks will have to look this up!

Anyway, we went out to the Kennedy Space Center and got to see lots of exhibits, tour the area to see the launchpads, assembly building etc.  Very impressive stuff!

Jeff is very proud to be able to say that two of the early astronauts are alumni of his high school (Admiral Faragaut) – Alan Shepart and Charlie Duke.  And…they both walked on the moon!  They didn’t attend at the same time as Jeff but still – no other high school can claim two astronauts as alumni!  The high school (also here in Fl. in St. Petersburg) was given a piece of moonrock by the two alumni astronauts – worth millions of dollars!

Here are some pictures we took on our first visit to the Kennedy Space Center: