Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!pyuxp!pyuxe!nvuxr!deej
From: deej@nvuxr.UUCP (David Lewis)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Shuttle launch viewing
Message-ID: <1626@nvuxr.UUCP>
Date: 9 Apr 90 13:41:49 GMT
References: <54382@bbn.COM> <1510@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Lines: 47

In article <1510@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, kavan@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Kavan U. Ratnatunga) writes:
> In article <54382@bbn.COM>, rrosales@bbn.com (Regina Rosales) writes...
> > 
> > Unfortunately, there are no more visitor passes at Kennedy. 
> > Does anyone out there know of places to view the launching without
> > having to deal with the traffic jams and the crowds?

(sorry for the extended follow-up; I missed the original article)

When I was down there, I watched from a landfill just outside the gate
to Cape Canaveral AFS.  Can't remember the route number, but it's like
one causeway south from the NASA causeway, heading towards the City of
Cape Canaveral -- if you take the Bee Line east from Orlando and the
southern branch, it drops you right onto it.  The exit right after the
easternmost causeway will take you north about half a mile and east
about half a mile to the CC AFS gate; right before the gate is a
landfill on your right which puts you about 25 feet above sea level and
gives you a clear shot right up the river at 39A and 39B.

Also, (Mark A. Haun @ Sacramento Public Access, Ca. USA) writes...

>I am planning a one week trip to Florida for this coming October
>and got to thinking about tours of the Kennedy Space Center.  I
>was wondering if there are any tours available (that may require
>arrangement ahead of time, small groups only, etc.) of some of
>the more restricted areas such as the Vehicle Assembly Building,
>etc.  It would sure be great to be able to see those areas, but is
>the general public allowed to view them?

Well, with enough connections you can get in *anywhere*, but the general
public isn't allowed in a lot of the restricted area for a variety of
reasons -- primarily liability.  F'rinstance, the VAB is off limits
because there are SRB segments inside, and letting the GP near solid
fuel is a no-no.  The bus also won't take you within three miles or so
of a pad with a shuttle on it.

The "normal" tour is fairly good.  There are some hokey bits, like the
mockup of the Apollo control room and landing site (but even that is
pretty intense when they blast the low frequency noise of a Saturn V out
the speakers and it shakes the whole room...), but you get a good look
at the VAB, one of the pads, the crawlerway, the launch complex that
rides on the VAB, and so on.

-- 
David G Lewis					...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej
	(@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center)
			"If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."