Thursday 30th October 2008

Hi Campion. Its Phil and Al again.

We had an early start today and went straight to Kennedy Space Centre. We were able to have our last look around the centre before we went on a tour at 'The Cape Canaveral Air force Station', called the 'Here and Now Tour'. It was a tour based on the missions that had been and gone and the ones that they were looking at having in the near future. We were able to see lots of different things including the Apollo 1 launch pad, now a memorial to those who lost their lives aboard that mission, and a new launch pad holding some of the pieces of rockets being constructed at this very moment. unfortunately after having a late night last night everybody was tired on the tour and there was quite a bit of sleeping taking place, and yes staff members were included in this. Tut tut!
We stopped off at Wal-Mart to do some shopping before we came home. Everybody bought lots of things, including hold alls to put the things that they had bought in!

It was our last evening as a group and so from Wal-Mart we headed off to the Hotel to get ready for dinner. Most people ended up in the swimming pool which, by the time we got back, was freezing! It didn't take too long to heat up though but then it was time to get washed and dressed for dinner.

We headed off to an Italian restaurant which was a great was to finish off a brilliant trip. While there and after we had finished eating presentations were made by the staff to both the Cornwall and Birmingham groups. Our group were presented individually by James who had called our group Gemini after one of the NASA programmes. We too presented the staff with presents from the groups, as an overall thank you to them for taking us and being with us over the time we were here. We then came back to the hotel and started to pack.

We did individual videos of how we had found the trip and the good and bad points of it.

Its going to be another long day tomorrow with not much sleep and were still very tired, so we'll speak to you another time.

Phil and Al

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Wednesday 29th October 2008

Heya.

Today we visited the ATX (Astronaut Training Experience). The day was filled with all sorts of activities such as tri-axis training and a 1/6 gravity simulator, where you can experience the gravity of the moon. The tri-axis training facility was great fun, but you ended up getting thrown about quite a bit.

During the morning we made rockets again, but this time we made them out of actual rocket model kits. We were going to launch them in the afternoon and they had solid fuel engines to power them.

We went on the tri-axis trainer, which was used as a prop in a film. You sat in it and it spun you around in 3 different directions all at the same time. It was very disorientating. The 1/6 Gravity simulator was great fun, we all had a go on it and found out that it wasn't so easy walking in a straight line as you would do on Earth.

After lunch we took our rockets outside to the launch pad. On our journey to the launch pad we met Al Worden who was actually a crew member on the Apollo 15 Mission and went to the moon. We set them up and attached wires, which would trigger the lighting of the fuel. They flew very well and deployed their parachutes, however Philips ended up in a tree and was not able to retrieve it.

The next activity was a launch and mission simulation. We all had different jobs including SSO, Flight Director and ECOM. The simulation went well and we were able to carry out the mission successfully.

On the evening we went to a basketball match which was brilliant. We went to see the first game of the season between The Orlando Magics and the Atlanta Hawks. We were supporting the Orlando Magics. There was a brilliant atmosphere and although we lost 85-99 it was well worth going to. Were all very tired after all of those activities so were off to bed.
More news tomorrow.

Phil and Al

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Cocoa Beach High School 6th Full Day

Hi everyone.

Today we visited Cocoa Beach High School, a real life american high school, to see whether it was any different from the schools back at home. We spent the morning talking to students there about their lives and their school and were able to learn about their out of school hobbies and events that they were part of.

We then went from there to The Whistle Junction Cafe, an all you can eat steak restaurant where the steaks were 50oz in weight. It was a Buffet restaurant with plenty to choose from.

After we were well and truely stuffed we visited Kenerdy Space Centre and got a chance to have some free time looking around the centre. There is a rocket garden which holds lots of the early rockets which were sent into space. Now all retired they are left as monuments to the space programme and the people who made them work.

We visited a Planetarium in the evening, where we were able to watch a video in a domed theatre. The image was projected onto the ceiling from a giant projector. They also took us to their telescope, which is massive, and showed us a close up of some of the stars and planets such as Jupiter.

We arrived back at the Wakulla Suite at around 11ish and were all extremely tired.

More news tomorrow.

Al and Phil

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5th Full day

Hi everyone.

We've just had our first full day in Florida. We had breakfast in the hotel and then Alex went for a run and Philip went for a walk on the beach with some of the teachers and other students. We watched the sunrise at 7.15am and then headed off to Kennedy Space Centre. Alex went in the Hummer. We arrived at 9:30 and got our tickets and went in. While there we went on the Up close Tour at 9:50.

We got to see most of the space centre and were took on a bus tour through the area owned by the space centre. We saw the launch pads for the rockets and shuttles. We also saw the landing runway and the building that they construct the rockets in. The flag on the side of the building is huge! The stars on the flag are 6ft from point to point and the lines are wide enough to drive a bus down. After the tour we went and had lunch in the centre and then saw a short film on Apollo 11.

In the afternoon we went to a museum of NASA's space history. As well as the museum they have tried to commemorate the people who worked and flew on the space missions. The museum has tour guides who were all involved in NASA's history, ranging from engineers to firefighters. We spent most of the afternoon there and then left to go out for dinner. We went to Whistle Stop which was a buffet restaurant/steak house. It took a while to get back to the hotel but arrived back at 8ish. Since then we've been blogging. So we're about to get ready for bed because it's been another long day and we're all very tired.

We'll write up again tomorrow.

Bizzle.

4th full day

Hi Campion.

It was our last day in Texas and our first day in Florida. We were up at 6 am and left the hotel at 7:30 am. We ate breakfast in the bus as there wasn't enough time to eat out or in the hotel. We arrived at George Bush Airport at around 9 am and checked in. Our flight left at 10 am and landed in Florida at midday. We hired 2 mini buses and a Hummer and headed to Kennedy Space Centre to pick up our passes for the week.

We left the space centre and went to the hotel apartments where we unpacked and went in the swimming pool. We got changed and went out for dinner. We then headed back towards the hotel. The weather has been great today and really hot. We're really tired. It's been a long week but really great. We've met lots of people who have been a part of the space program over the last 40 years and discovered new things. Will update tomorrow.

Speak Soon.

Phil and Alex

Day 3

We spent today at Johnson Space Centre(JSC) building rockets, with the aim of launching the rocket, deploying a parachute in midair, and returning the shuttle safely to the ground. Both our parachutes failed to deploy and ultimately the teachers won the contest, even though they cheated! (Not true we followed the instructions unlike you lot!)

After the rockets we visited George Allen's favourite Cowboy shop called Allen's Famous Texas Boots, and in the shop they had a pair of boots worth $200,000. They were gold plated and used gold thread to stitch the sole to the boot.

Later, we visited a Hummer garage, a special present to Geoff who was celebrating his 29th birthday. For tea we visited a chinese buffet with Mr Ojha who was leaving in the morning so we all said goodbye, then it was back to the Hilton for some much needed sleep.

Phil and Al

Blog Day 2

Hey Campion, how are we all?

Everyone is extremely jet lagged but we've had a really good day.


Today was our level 9 tour around Johnson Space Centre in Houston. Basically the level 9 tour means we are NASA VIP's for the day, and we get to see more and get closer than the general public's tour. We visited loads, and walked on sites where actual history was made.
Firstly we drove around the Houston NASA site and learned about the functions of many of the buildings. The site itself is huge, about 1600 acres, with much of that being grassland, as NASA takes part in a nature program.

Anyway, the tour, our first stop was the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, which is the largest "swimming pool" in the world by volume; its 40ft deep, with 20 feet above the ground level, and 20 feet below ground level. The design of the pool allows astronauts to be trained in the effects of weightlessness on the moon. They do all sorts of training and exercises, and practice maintenance and installing new parts on the International Space Station (the International Space Station(ISS), we learned, is a research facility being constructed in space. It is in a low earth orbit and can therefore be seen from earth with the naked eye. Many nations are involved with the ISS, including the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, aswell as 11 european countries, including the UK. The station has been constructed using the American Shuttle, and Russia equivalent, carefully building piece by piece, with the completion date being 2010. The station will be used as a research facility until at least 2016. Currently the station has a capacity for 3 at the moment, with plans to expand to 6.

Anyway, as said previously the Neutral Buoyancy Lab has real size, real functioning mock up of the outside and areas of the ISS that need to be worked on. While we were there we were lucky enough to view some astronauts who were actually in training, and had been in the pool for 4 hours already, with a further 7 hours !scheduled, fully suited up with all the safety gear on.

During training, several safety regulations have to be followed, including the support crew, which was made up of several divers on a rotation system, as well as technicians monitoring every move. The Astronauts have to spend at least 7 hours in the pool training for every hour in space working on the ISS.
After the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, we visited historic Mission Control Houston.

This is the room where the Apollo missions, and the Saturn V moon rocket program were controlled from, were all the history was made including Apollo 8 the 1st orbit of the moon and Apollo 11 the first men on the moon. It was also the room where the Apollo 13 crew were saved. We were actually allowed inside the room and to walk about it, whereas the public has to watch from behind glass. We sat in the flight directors(the man in charge of everything) seat, and touched the flag that was placed on the moon. We also saw a plaque left by the Apollo 13 astronauts in historic mission control, thanking the ground team and the backup team for their groundbreaking outstanding work, in engineering the crews safe return.

When we returned to the hotel, the manager had Alex's pillow washed and ready wooooooooooo
bizzle