Sunday, April 22, 2007

Some pictures from this weekend...







This weekend a friend from college came to visit me as she will be moving to Turkey soon on a work assignment. She had never visited KSC, so we took the KSC Up Close Tour. I highly recommend this tour to anyone that hasn't taken it yet. It is very informational and the tour guides do a great job in giving the right information. We stopped by the launch pads, VAB (which looks like the paint job is almost complete), and the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Shown in the pictures are the ESA's Columbus laboratory and Japan's Kimo RMS module. We also visited the Apollo/Saturn building which provided a great reenactment of a Saturn V launch from the Launch Control Center. They even simulated the windows rattling due to the vibration of the launch. It was awesome! After the tour we walked around the vistor center and found that this summer, the new attraction "Shuttle Launch Simulation Facility" will be opening! Can't wait!

We also made time to visit Epcot and they have this new ride called Mission Space. You have two choices with this ride. With spinning and without. We did the "with spinning" version. I definitely felt about 2 1/2 G's. It reminded me of when I rode in the "vomit comet" and the transition my stomach felt going into microgravity. Definitely my favorite ride! Well, I had a fun weekend..but now I have to catch up on school work! I have midterms coming up next week! (ahh!)

6 comments:

Michael said...

The Shuttle Launch Simulation Facility sounds cool, but I bet it's not as cool as the real simulators the astronauts use in Houston. We get to be more than just passengers there.

If only they could fix the anti-gravity generator, though, that part never seems to work right.

mark_smith said...

Thanks Damaris for the great pictures changed a bit since i was there in 1995.

Mark

Anonymous said...

Dear Damaris,

Just out of curiosity I googled my newborn daughter's name and your blog came up in the top 5! Sounds like you're working hard to achieve your goals - good for you! My daughter, Damaris E. was born on April 10. How do you pronounce your name? I'll check back in the comments if you want to reply. Thanks for letting me visit your blog!
:o) Diana

Damaris Sarria Toepel said...

Diana, my name is pronounced "duh-mair-iss" in english, and in spanish, my family will pronounce my name as "Dah-mahr-ees".

:)

Damaris Sarria Toepel said...

By the way Diana, congrats on your new little bundle of joy!! :)

mark_smith said...

Sadly didn’t as there was no planned celebrations in the UK what I know of plus I had to be up at 4.30am. Did you Damaris?????