An inspiring day - Trip to NASA

So yesterday I thought I'd take a break for a few hours and go check out NASA.  I have to admit, it was one of the most inspiring trips I've ever been.

This all started the night before last when I got to see the Shuttle launch from my hotel room.  Staying up to 3am was completely worth it, and after going to NASA it became really clear what a marvel these machines and people building them really are.

The picture above is the very launch pad that Endeavor launched off of the a few hours earlier.  What's amazing is everything has a unique problem to be solved.  The complexity here is simply huge.  In their final check lists alone there are over 1200 items, handled by dozens of teams.  It makes our own projects look so simple in comparison.

Now I decided to do a tour, not of the newer Shuttle program but of the older Cape Canaveral program.  I'm really glad I did this.  I had to sign in via a military security point and had to disclose my country of origin while the checked my status against a homeland security list.   Essentially this tour goes around the Cape Canaveral Air Force base and shows you the remnants of the previous space programs.  To the right you see the base station of where Apollo 1 sat prior to launch.  The rocket nozzles would have been protruding through that big gap you see.  For those who don't know about Apollo 1, check out the Wikipedia entry, but it's famous for the unfortunate accident that killed the three astronauts.

As well as checking out the Apollo sites, I also got to go check out the earlier unmanned, monkey, and single manned sites.  Standing in the block houses with 30 layer think glass windows, and seeing the technology involved, made me realize how far we've come and how programs like the space program drive technology.  There were punch card computers, and manual wiring looms to manage all of the different systems.  Not to mention a light system to show each of the systems go or no go.  The explosive force of these rockets is phenomenal.  In some cases they have 10 feet of concrete protecting the block houses, with multiple  escape routes in case of emergency.

Another thing that amazed me was the magnitude of the scale.  The rocket assembly building where they put together the shuttle is 51 stories tall.  Those stripes on the flag are about 15 feet wide!  The weight of these rockets is insane, on the move between assembly and launch pad the stones are pulverized into dust!

What an awesome day.  If you ever get a chance to check it out I recommend you do so.