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Author
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Topic: Kennedy (KSC) Visitor Complex: Space Shop
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-29-2018 05:00 AM
   
collectSPACE Apollo 11 gantry arm lands in NASA gift shop (but not for sale)Forget the amusement park staple "exit through the gift shop" — the newly-renovated store at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex now has a historic exit off the planet. Billed as the "world's largest space shop," the souvenir store now features a part of the launch pad gantry that Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins walked across to begin the first moon landing mission nearly 50 years ago. The red grate swing arm now bridges the Space Shop's second floor, offering guests the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the first humans to step on the moon.  |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 06-29-2018 09:46 AM
Cool! I'm glad to see it's no longer outdoors, as it was in the rocket garden for many years.That said, it's sad they covered the original walkway with a pad of some sort. I'm sure it's because of ADA compliance issues, but you're not really walking on the surface that the Apollo 11 crew did, though you are using the same load-bearing structure. Just curious, what happened to the white room that was attached to the end of the arm when it was on display outdoors? |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 06-29-2018 05:05 PM
I've spent a lot of time walking back and forth across this structure trying to get it to talk to me and share its wondrous stories. It always rises to the task. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-29-2018 05:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by p51:
...what happened to the white room
The white room is being held in storage for a possible future display.(The white room displayed with the other segment of swing arm 9 in the Apollo 1 "Ad Astra Per Aspera" exhibit is a lengthened and enlarged replica.) |
pupnik
Member Posts: 114
From: Maryland
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 06-29-2018 07:46 PM
quote:
Originally posted by p51:
That said, it's sad they covered the original walkway with a pad of some sort.
A see-through grate would pose a problem for anyone crossing it in a dress/skirt/kilt above other people. |
Skythings
Member Posts: 243
From:
Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 06-29-2018 09:17 PM
I don't think I fully understood the magnitude of what those men accomplished until I walked onto that gantry arm in the Rocket Garden back in 1982. Something very powerful struck me that day as I imagined what it must have been like to walk that walkway knowing you were about to climb into a huge rocket and you were going to the Moon. It was very real for me that day.That display was only two feet off the ground but man — I was right there behind those three brave men and I felt perhaps only a tiny fraction of the weight they must have that July day in 1969. But it made it very real for me. That was the best display on that entire visit because of how it made me think and feel. |
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