Thursday 26-Oct-2023

Day 10: Second day at the Space Center Houston (SCH). And my space mission is coming to an end, today will be my last day, of what has been so far, an excellent journey and the trip has ticked all my boxes and more.

When I arrived at SCH my first trip was to the Saturn V rocket that they have here. This one is put together from all leftovers from Apollo 18, 19, and 20 (ones that were planned but never went into space). There is also an F-1 rocket engine as I have seen before at the Kennedy Space Center and I just want to give some stats about this engine as 5 of those managed to lift off the massive Saturn V rocket that weighed over 2.8 million kilograms. The F-1 is 5.1 meters high and the nozzle extension is 3.7 meters. The thing is huge and by the look of the size of the fuel tank in the first stage, it was thirsty as well 😊. When 5 of them were mounted on the Saturn V rocket their combined thrust was enough to lift the rocket off the launch pad.

One of the other interesting things both here and at KSC is that the areas they use are also nature reserves, in Texas they have a small herd of Long Horns wandering around 😁but I also saw a few deer and lots of birds.

The next thing I wanted to visit today was the modified Boeing 747 known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA). They have the original SCA on display with a mockup Space Shuttle on top, there have been two of these modified 747s in operation. Both aircraft were extensively modified for NASA by Boeing in 1976 and 1988. While first-class seats were kept for NASA passengers, its main cabin and insulation were stripped, and the fuselage was strengthened. Mounting struts were added on top of the 747, located to match the fittings on the Shuttle that attach it to the external fuel tank for launch. With the Shuttle riding on top, the center of gravity was altered and to counter this vertical stabilisers were added to the tail to improve stability when the Orbiter was being carried. The avionics and engines were also upgraded.

During the decades of Shuttle operations, the SCAs were most often used to transport the orbiters from Edwards Air Force Base, the shuttle’s secondary landing site, to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center where the orbiter was processed for another launch. The SCAs were also used to transport the orbiters between manufacturer Rockwell International and NASA during initial delivery and mid-life refits. The SCAs made a total of 66 flights with a space shuttle mounted atop the fuselage.

At the end of the Space Shuttle program, the SCA was used to deliver the retired orbiters from the Kennedy Space Center to their museums. To get the plane to this spot at the SCH, they had to take off the wings, landing gear, and tail. It was then moved on top of a huge truck and reassembled at the site.

And my last visit today was to a real Falcon 9 rocket on display. It was quite surreal to be able to touch this rocket which I have seen two of his siblings launch into space over the last 10 days.

The B1035 launched as part of two NASA missions. The first, CRS-11, was a resupply mission to ISS. This core acted as the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that propelled a Dragon spacecraft into orbit. CRS stands for Commercial Resupply Service and is part of NASA’s contract with SpaceX to provide U.S.-based supply launches to ISS. This mission launched on June 3, 2017, and was the first time a Dragon spacecraft was reused. B1035 flew again on Dec. 15, 2017, marking the first time NASA allowed a reusable rocket stage to be reflown for one of its missions. SpaceX had previously reflown a booster but for private company launches.

It was also the first time a reflown core landed at LZ-1, the landing zone at Cape Canaveral. All previous previously flown stage landings were done on SpaceX’s automated drone ships.

After this second mission, B1035 was retired and we the public can enjoy this marvel. There are only two Falcon 9 on display so I was very happy to see this one here.

At the end of the day, there were a few raindrops, so the weather gods have been very good on me as this was the first rain that I’ve encountered to date on my trip! Below are a few more images, enjoy them, and let me know what you think.