PERT: Kennedy Space Center

The boys spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center and will return again tomorrow. They are acclimatizing ... it's about 90 degrees, very humid and most of the sights are outside.

This is a Saturn I rocket, a short milestone on the way to the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo moon shots.

This is a Saturn V rocket, one of three left over when the Apollo program was canceled. The Saturn V -- the most powerful rocket built to date -- had about the same power as an atom bomb. The boys were awed by the size.

Here is one of the two Apollo and space shuttle launch pads. About 300,000 gallons of water drop from the water tower to the fire chutes during the twenty seconds the rocket exhaust reaches the chutes. The main purpose is to reduce the sound, which is loud enough to destroy the shuttle. Even so the sound is so loud it kills any unprotected animals (people too) within 800 feet. The white pole at the top is a lighting rod. The cape is full of lightning rods.

Amazing stuff.