I worked as a summer hire at KSC in 1987, and one of the things that stuck out most in that experience was when they took all of us summer hires on a full tour of the facility.
We got to walk besides the Crawler-Transporter 2 as it was moving to the launch pad...that was awesome. Touring the VAB and taking a ride to the top...amazing view. Same for the actual launch pad and them describing why the lightning arrestors had to be aligned perfectly to the N-S magnetic poles (to maximize dissipation, of course).
The saddest part of the tour is when we went to the KSC version of the Apollo control room and it was in total disrepair (this was 1988 remember). I remember thinking "what a shame this looks like this..I don't get it", but this was the time between the first Challenger explosion and overall, the place wasn't at its best.
I think it's amazing that Gene led the restoration of the Johnson control room...I just hope that people don't forget to do the same at KSC.
We got to walk besides the Crawler-Transporter 2 as it was moving to the launch pad...that was awesome. Touring the VAB and taking a ride to the top...amazing view. Same for the actual launch pad and them describing why the lightning arrestors had to be aligned perfectly to the N-S magnetic poles (to maximize dissipation, of course).
The saddest part of the tour is when we went to the KSC version of the Apollo control room and it was in total disrepair (this was 1988 remember). I remember thinking "what a shame this looks like this..I don't get it", but this was the time between the first Challenger explosion and overall, the place wasn't at its best.
I think it's amazing that Gene led the restoration of the Johnson control room...I just hope that people don't forget to do the same at KSC.