Mission to Cape Canaveral '99
NASA Kennedy Space Center Photos

These are pictures of the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

(1536x1024 466K) (500x334 21K)	The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(1536x1024 534K) (500x337 24K)	KSC employees guide their family and friends around during the Open House day. In the background is the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) 3, which contains the shuttle orbiter Atlantis, with its doors open for viewing.
(1536x1024 531K) (500x334 30K)	The "Astro Van" astronaut van is parked in front of OPF 3 in the elevated position it would use when astronauts are exiting the orbiter after landing.
(1536x1024 547K) (500x334 32K)	"There's a space shuttle under all that scaffolding." The tail of the shuttle orbiter Atlantis is visible through the open doors of OPF 3. The equipment around the orbiter provides a seal and "clean room" environment around the payload bay.
(1536x1024 710K) (500x334 45K)	A closer look at Atlantis. The round holes in the back are where the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) would be installed, but are currently removed.
(1536x1024 743K) (500x334 45K)	Atlantis' vertical stabilizer with spoilers (air brakes) deployed.
(1536x1024 709K) (500x334 45K)	Boeing Engineer Brenda DiSanto takes a picture of her grandparents with Atlantis in the background.
(1536x1024 648K) (500x334 43K)	This is me standing at the entrance of OPF 3. Atlantis is about 40 feet behind me. After viewing Atlantis' STS-86 launch in Sept 1997, this reaffirms Atlantis as my favorite orbiter. :-) (photo by Brenda DiSanto, Boeing Engineer)
(1536x1024 414K) (500x334 20K)	One of the exhibits in the OPF 3 building: an explosive bolt used to hold and then detach the shuttle orbiter and external tank.
(1536x1024 420K) (500x334 20K)	One of the exhibits in the OPF 3 building: a mortar used to eject the drag chute to slow the orbiter after landing.
(1536x1024 489K) (500x334 24K)	One of the exhibits in the OPF 3 building: astronaut food.
(1024x1536 549K) (500x750 50K)	One of the exhibits in the OPF 3 building: I've been strapped into a real "Mission Specialist Seat" which has flown on multiple shuttle flights. This kind of seat is used for all astronauts who are seated in the orbiter's "mid deck" during launch and re-entry, since only three (commander, pilot and flight engineer) can be seated on the flight deck. (photo by Brenda DiSanto, Boeing Engineer)
(1536x1024 624K) (500x334 36K)	One of the exhibits in the OPF 3 building: the payload bay flag from the orbiter Columbia. This was removed while Columbia is in Palmdale, California (where all the shuttle orbiters were built) for routine upgrades.
(1536x1024 387K) (500x334 19K)	One of the exhibits in the OPF 3 building: a tire used by the shuttle orbiters for landing. Each tire is used only once and is then replaced.
(1536x1024 519K) (500x334 29K)	Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) on display in OPF 3.
(1536x1024 528K) (500x334 34K)	Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) on display in OPF 3.
(1536x1024 416K) (500x334 16K)	The side door of the 50-story-tall Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is open for viewing. As with the hangar part of OPF 3, Open House attendees may look inside the VAB but cannot enter. A nose cone from a Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) is visible inside.
(1536x1024 547K) (500x334 27K)	Another view of the open door of the VAB.
(1536x1024 646K) (500x334 35K)	Another view of the open door of the VAB.
(1536x1024 849K) (500x334 28K)	A look inside the VAB. This section is mostly empty on the Open House day. But behind the wall to the left, the shuttle stack with Discovery is getting readied for roll-out to the launch pad.
(1536x1024 507K) (500x334 22K)	A view outside the VAB. For a sense of scale of this enormous building, the stripes on the flag are each wider than a highway lane.
(1536x1024 578K) (500x334 24K)	The Launch Control Center (LCC) is located just to the right of the VAB.
(1536x1024 498K) (500x334 30K)	Inside one of three identical "firing rooms" at the Launch Control Center (LCC). All the computer equipment is 70's vintage, except in one corner where current workstations and servers are being tested to eventually replace the older systems.
(1536x1024 484K) (500x334 27K)	Another look (to the right of the previous view) at the LCC firing room.
(1536x1024 505K) (500x334 27K)	Another look at the LCC firing room.
(1536x1024 490K) (500x334 30K)	The line stopped for quite a while as some children became enamoured with the operator headsets that were playing live audio from the VAB crews at work.
(1536x1024 472K) (500x334 26K)	Clocks in the firing room.
(1536x1024 490K) (500x334 26K)	Clocks in the firing room from two steps further up the stairs, two minutes later...
(1536x1024 452K) (500x334 27K)	A view along the top operator positions in the firing room. To the left are windows and shutters facing the launch pads. The shutters can be closed in case of an emergency to protect the room from flying debris. (This may sound a bit callous, but it's a necessary precaution in rocket science.)
(1536x1024 492K) (500x334 17K)	A view of Pad 39A from the LCC window.
(1536x1024 504K) (500x334 19K)	A view of Pad 39B from the LCC window.
(1536x1024 490K) (500x334 27K)	Atlantis' log book sits on the counter top at the LCC.
(1536x1024 539K) (500x334 25K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 472K) (500x334 23K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. The flame trench for the liquid-fuel engines (SSMEs) can be seen on this side. Behind us, the perimeter fence is visibly rusted because the flames hit it every time. Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 473K) (500x334 22K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. The liquid hydrogen tank is shown here. Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 518K) (500x334 25K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. This view shows the water tower and Fixed Service Structure (FSS). Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 542K) (500x334 25K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. This view shows the water tower, Fixed Service Structure (FSS) and Rotating Service Structure (RSS). Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 488K) (500x334 21K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. This shows the endpoints of the wire-basket emergency exits from the launch pad, which the astronauts and pad crew could use in case of emergency evacutation of the pad. Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 580K) (500x334 26K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. This shows the entrance to the bunker intended to protect evacuated astronauts and crew from an explosion on the pad. Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 508K) (500x334 25K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road inside the perimeter fence. This view looks up the "crawlerway" where the shuttle stack is transported (at 1 mph) from the VAB up to the launch pad. Since I was seated on the wrong side of the van, this picture was taken by holding my camera at arm's length and approximately aiming it.
(1536x1024 595K) (500x334 26K)	Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the road returning to the VAB from the Pad. This is another view of the crawlerway up to Pad 39A.
(1536x1024 492K) (500x334 22K)	A view of the LCC and VAB, with half-open doors where we can sneak a distant peek at Discovery stacked for launch. The bottoms of the white solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and orange External Tank can be seen dimly through the open door.
(1536x1024 450K) (500x334 27K)	We had lunch at the cafeteria at the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) since it's the newest building (and best cafeteria) at KSC.
(1536x1024 480K) (500x334 29K)	This is the walkway between the tourist facility (behind us) and thehigh bay construction area (ahead) of the SSPF.
(1536x1024 524K) (500x334 30K)	Modules of the International Space Station can be viewed through windows. Flash photography was not permitted here so these pictures appear a bit dim.
(1536x1024 508K) (500x334 30K)	Modules of the International Space Station can be viewed through windows. Flash photography was not permitted here so these pictures appear a bit dim.
(1536x1024 467K) (500x334 28K)	Modules of the International Space Station can be viewed through windows. Flash photography was not permitted here so these pictures appear a bit dim.
(1536x1024 525K) (500x334 29K)	Mock-ups of the space station modules in the tourist section of the SSPF.
(1536x1024 459K) (500x334 23K)	Mock-ups of the space station modules in the tourist section of the SSPF.
(1536x1024 458K) (500x334 26K)	Mock-ups of the space station modules in the tourist section of the SSPF.
(1536x1024 488K) (500x336 22K)	This picture was taken just as insurance in case my photos from the van didn't turn out. It's Launch Complex 39A as viewed from the tourist observation platform.
(1536x1024 533K) (500x334 20K)	This picture was taken just as insurance in case my photos from the van didn't turn out. It's Launch Complex 39b as viewed from the tourist observation platform.
(1536x1024 495K) (500x334 21K)	This picture was taken just as insurance in case my photos from the van didn't turn out. It's the VAB as viewed from the tourist observation platform.
(1536x1024 509K) (500x334 21K)	These are two of the expendable rocket launch pads at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, as viewed from the same tourist observation platform as the previous pictures.
(1536x1024 672K) (500x334 36K)	A real Saturn V rocket which was built but not yet launched when the program was cancelled. This is now the heart of the display at the new Saturn V Center at KSC.
(1536x1024 727K) (500x334 39K)	The Saturn V is a really big rocket. Even today, nothing compares...
(1536x1024 533K) (500x334 33K)	Saturn V, second stage on display at the Saturn V Center.
(1536x1024 563K) (500x334 37K)	Saturn V, third stage on display at the Saturn V Center.
(1536x1024 508K) (500x334 29K)	Apollo command module at the Saturn V Center.
(1536x1024 675K) (500x334 37K)	Seated with a Pepsi at the eating area, I took this picture straight up at the LEM (Lunar lander) which was haning above me.
(1536x1024 933K) (500x334 25K)	Of course, they had a little show re-enacting the Moon landing. A Saturn V exhibit wouldn't be complete without one. (People behind me joked that this was "the exact sound stage where they faked the whole Moon landing." Everyone around chuckled.)
(1536x1024 602K) (500x334 31K)	The Banana Creek Viewing Site is next to the Saturn V Center. This is where VIPs and astronauts families can watch shuttle launches from 2.5 miles from either pad. Reportedly, it's so loud here that you wouldn't want to be any closer.
(1536x1024 445K) (500x334 17K)	The "Rocket Garden" at the KSC Visitor Complex.
(1536x1024 398K) (500x334 16K)	The "Rocket Garden" at the KSC Visitor Complex.
(1536x1024 519K) (500x334 20K)	The "Rocket Garden" at the KSC Visitor Complex.
(1536x1024 500K) (500x334 21K)	The "Rocket Garden" at the KSC Visitor Complex.
(1536x1024 518K) (500x334 19K)	The "Rocket Garden" at the KSC Visitor Complex.

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Copyright (c) 1999 Ian Kluft