The KSC bus tour was one of the highlights of our visit to the Kennedy Space Center! Our price of…read moreadmission included exploring at your leisure, the huge complex of buildings filled with history and memorabilia. But the bus tour proved to be the best introduction at getting a basic background knowledge of what the space center was all about! You get a whole 2 1/2 hour driving tour that spans several miles. The Vehicle Assembly Building stands as the first focus where the Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles were built, then they were transported via gigantic crawlers to one of the launch pads: 39A or 39B. You get to see (from a distance), the launch pads ready and waiting to launch the next rocket, satellite or other spacecraft. Water towers, rocket fuel storage, blast deflectors, and even the SpaceX building, all the way to the Launch Control Center.
But besides all the man made structures we encountered throughout the tour, you'll find that the space center also cohabits and protects the land as a national wildlife refuge, 140,000 acres worth! There are fresh and saltwater marshes, lagoons, coastal seashores, and flatlands, home to fish, mammals, amphibians, birds and indigenous plants. The majority of wildlife refuge is left undisturbed by the goings on by NASA.
Our tour guide Noble, gave us a very informative and interesting tour as he described what each structure and building is used for. The important people involved in every aspect from maintenance to space flight. Besides the human impact, we even caught glimpses of an eagles nest, a manatee resting in the water and several birds & waterfowl. I didn't see any alligators during our tour, but I'm sure they were staying cool beneath the swamps.
The whole tour had me at the edge of my seat listening to the stories and history of our ever developing space program. It just made me more appreciative and proud of America's achievements and goals to explore the stars. There really is intelligent life still on this Earth!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXeEhbM0g0Y