NASA
_ Visiting NASA was both educational and funny, educational ,
as there was so much to read and look at , that it proved almost impossible to
take everything in. The stats came
think and fast, but the thing that stuck in my mind more than anything was how huge
the whole complex and buildings were, not to mention the space rockets. It still amazes me that they managed to get
people into space in the sixties, when you see the nick of some of the
exhibits.
It was also funny , due to the two bus drivers we had. The first one had, asked if we had any questions, up popped this Australian, with this little gem .... "How did they manage to work out the proportion of hydrogen to nitrogen needed to allow the rockets to escape the gravitational pull of the earth?" ... the driver, took off his baseball cap and scratched his head, after little pause he responded, "Well, ..... that's the best, god dam, question I have ever been asked ....... but son, ...... I jeest drive the bus!"
The second driver looked as if he was 98 years old and had never heard of the concept of retirement, anyway after he got himself "miked up" on the bus and pulled out at no more than 10 miles an hour, he started giving us information on the exhibit of a huge rocket engine, that we had just visited. What he said was like this ....... "That baby [engine] goes from naught to 3000 miles and hour in a matter of seconds ..... then he added .... " that'll geet ya outta town" .... priceless.
We also had a go in a real simulated rocket take off, that real live NASA astronauts had approved as being very life like and gave a very good experience of what it was like on the launch pad. It certainly shook my ass.
See Additinal Information:- http://www.nasa.gov/
Click on pictures below for a bigger version
It was also funny , due to the two bus drivers we had. The first one had, asked if we had any questions, up popped this Australian, with this little gem .... "How did they manage to work out the proportion of hydrogen to nitrogen needed to allow the rockets to escape the gravitational pull of the earth?" ... the driver, took off his baseball cap and scratched his head, after little pause he responded, "Well, ..... that's the best, god dam, question I have ever been asked ....... but son, ...... I jeest drive the bus!"
The second driver looked as if he was 98 years old and had never heard of the concept of retirement, anyway after he got himself "miked up" on the bus and pulled out at no more than 10 miles an hour, he started giving us information on the exhibit of a huge rocket engine, that we had just visited. What he said was like this ....... "That baby [engine] goes from naught to 3000 miles and hour in a matter of seconds ..... then he added .... " that'll geet ya outta town" .... priceless.
We also had a go in a real simulated rocket take off, that real live NASA astronauts had approved as being very life like and gave a very good experience of what it was like on the launch pad. It certainly shook my ass.
See Additinal Information:- http://www.nasa.gov/
Click on pictures below for a bigger version