RocketSTEM Issue #13 - September 2016 | Page 32

FAC T L E T moonwalker Edgar Mitchel, and Commander and moonwalker Alan Shepard to the Moon and back. There is an original Lunar Module that would have been used to land on the surface, a Lunar Rover simulator, actual Moon rocks, spacesuits, and other great artifacts. You can even touch a small piece of a real Moon rock. While all of the visitors complex has amazing displays and great artifacts, the latest and perhaps the most spectacular of all the exhibits is the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit which opened in 2013. The 90,000 square foot facility is reported to have cost $100 million to build and it showcases the Space Shuttle program like no other facility has done to date. Unflown Lunar Module The Space Shop located inside KSCVC is the largest retail store in the world devoted to space-themed merchandise. The exhibit is in the main visitors center area. You can’t miss it. Out in front is a massive, 184-foot tall full-size replica of the Solid Rockets Boosters and Fuel tank used to launch the orbiter into space. You’ll be able to see the stack in the distance as you drive out to the visitors’ center and it can be spotted fairly easily all the way back in Titusville more than 10 miles away. While you are looking up at the massive stack, take a moment and look down, the entranceway is lined with actual rocks from the NASA crawlerway which the mighty Saturn V rockets that took astronauts to the Moon rolled out to the launch pads on, and every Space Shuttle flight rolled over those rocks as well. Once inside the building, you’ll walk along a slight ascent with images of the shuttle, astronauts, and more to look at on your way. If it’s not busy you can take some interesting photographs of you and/or your family members with many of these images. When you near the top there are a massive set of windows that overlook the tank and boosters outside and you can see almost the entire main visitor’s center. The view gives you something extra to look at until you head into the theater. Once inside the theater you will be treated with the story of how the shuttle was conceived, built and ultimately flown and 30 30 Apollo 8 Launch Control Room www.RocketSTEM .org