The VAB

The Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center is visible from all over the area. This is the view from one of NASAs public viewing sites for shuttle launches. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100 with a focal length of 55 mm.

ATHLETE

The ATHLETE (All Terain Hex-Legged Extra Terrestrial Explorer) makes use of both legs and wheels to move equipment around in simulated lunar exploration. Something like it will quite likely be used in future exploration on other worlds. This image was taken with my 10mm fisheye with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

LER visits Shorty Crater

A replica of the Lunar Electric Rover (LER) is at the KSC visitors center. In this case, the LER appears to be climbing out of a crater in the Taurus-Littrow Valley called "Shorty" at which Jack Schmitt, the first professional Geologist to explore the Moon in December 1972 found orange colored soil. Obviously, the museum chose a picture from the Apollo 17 mission as a backdrop. The LER is a test vehicle that is being used by the Desert RATs program which is helping to both practice for future lunar exploration and test procedures and hardware. This image was taken with my 10mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

Mercury Launch Control

The original Mercury Control center was recently demolished as it was deteriorating with age. NASA has a good sense of history and recreated the facility at the KSC visitors center (the old MCC was only shown to visitors on a bus tour which took visitors through the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). The consoles and displays look primitive even compared with the later Apollo facilities, but they got the Mercury spacecraft into space and back home successfully 6 times. This image was taken with my 10mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/5 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

Goddard's rocket

After looking at the rockets that helped take us to the Moon in the 1960s, it's interesting to pause and reflect on the beginnings of modern rocketry. This is a replica of one of Dr. Robert Goddard's early liquid fueled rockets which is on display at the Kennedy Space Center. This image was taken with my fisheye lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/30 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

Fisheye Mercury Redstone

Exercising my first rule of fisheye photography: "If you think you're close enough, take a step closer", here is a shot of the Mercury Redstone rocket in the KSC rocket garden. This image was taken with my 10mm fisheye lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/11, ISO 100.

Saturn IB

The "jewel" of the KSC rocket garden has to be this Saturn IB rocket. But other than taking long shots from across the area of this rocket, it is hard to get a good image of it without other exhibits in front of it. So I tried using my 10mm fisheye lens. Well, it's different. This is a spare Saturn Rocket numbered SA-209 - it is the 9th Saturn IB rocket built and became a museum piece after the last of the Apollo flights (the 3 manned Skylab Saturn IB flights and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that also used a Saturn IB rocket). This image was taken at f/11 with an exposure of 1/160 seconds, ISO 100.

The Mighty F-1

I wish I'd taken a shot with a human beside this monster rocket engine for scale! This is the Mighty F-1 engine which powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket. 5 of them were clustered together to provide over 7.5 million pounds of thrust. This engine was the largest liquid rocket engine ever built. You can see some closeups of another F-1 engine that is on display at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamagordo N.M. here. This image was taken with the kit lens on my Canon 20D at 21mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 100.

KSC Rocket Garden

Here's the the first of a few pix from our visit to the Kennedy Space Center last month. This group of rockets is next to the main visitors center at KSC and is very similar to what I remember it looking like when I saw it when I was much younger. From the left is a Mercury-Atlas, an Atlas Agena, a Mercury Redstone, a Thor, a Juno and a Jupiter dressed up like the rocket which launched the United States first satellite, Explorer I. On the far right is an F-1 Engine that powered the first stage of the Saturn V (with 5 of them) and the tail of a Saturn IB rocket (which I'll show better in a bit). This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

Beaches and launch pads

I'm on vacation in Florida and I decided to scout out some possible viewing locations for my next Florida vacation during a Space Shuttle launch. This beach is Playalinda beach north of KSC in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Looking south in this image shows the LC39A launch pads just over the dunes off the beach on the right side of this image. Not sure if this area would be open during a launch, though, but it would be a great area as the shuttle climbs out towards the northeast off the launch pad. This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 100 with a circular polarizer.

Apollo Soyuz Test Project - Apollo Capsule

This Apollo capsule (the CM in CSM-111) was originally slated to fly the Apollo 18 mission to the Moon, but after that mission was canceled, it was reassigned to the fly the Apollo Soyuz Test Project which happened 35 years ago this month (the Apollo & Soyuz docked on July 17, 1975 and undocked on July 19). Commanded by Tom Stafford with Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton and Vance Brand, the Apollo rendezvoused and docked with Soyuz 19 commanded by Alexei Leonov with Valeri Kubasov as his Flight Engineer. The ASTP Apollo capsule can be found in the California Science Center. You can see a replica of the Cassini spacecraft that still orbits Saturn in the background. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/40 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Mercury Redstone 2

Here is another spacecraft at the California Science Center. This is the Mercury capsule that carried the first hominid into space (an immigrant American, BTW) on January 31, 1961, about 2 and a half months before Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight. The Mercury Redstone 2 carried Ham, a Chimpanzee on a suborbital flight that paved the way for Alan Shepard (the 2nd American in space...) 4 months later. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

The view inside the capsule shows the capsule within the capsule that Ham rode in during his flight. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/100 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Iridescent clouds

Pretty sunset tonight with iridescent clouds above the setting sun. You can also see a crepuscular ray coming up from the sun going across one of the most prominent of the iridescent clouds. This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

The Hatch

I found the Apollo Command Module from the Apollo Soyuz Test Project at the California Science Center. Being the Apollo Geek that I am, I started taking closeup pictures of every part of the machine that I could get close enough to. This is part of the hatch mechanism. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/20 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

There goes the sun du'n do do...

Can't help singing my 2nd favorite George Harrison tun with the alternate lyrics as our nearest stellar neighbor sinks slowly below the waves.... This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

Another view of a San Diego sunset

Another view of the setting sun near Encinitas California, north of San Diego. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

Sunset on the Beach

The sunset approaches near Swami's Seaside Park north of San Diego. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

Surfer

With the sun approaching the horizon behind him, this surfer rides a wave on a beach near Encinitas north of San Diego. This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

Sleeveless the Magician

Sleeveless the Magician does his show at Balboa Park in San Diego. If you happen to see him, be sure to stop and enjoy his magic and his humor. This image was taken with the kit lens at 30mm focal length with an exposure of 1/80 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.

Flowers in Balboa Park

Last Saturday I visited the Ruben H. Fleet Science Museum in San Diegos Balboa Park. Across the street was a large flower garden in whiich I found this flower. This image was taken with the kit lens at 41mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 100.