Day Seven

COCOA BEACH, Fla. – Today we visited National Science Foundation’s Center of Excellence for Aerospace Technical Education, launched our own air-powered paper rockets, toured the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) facility, went to the planetarium, and looked at stars from the observatory.

Earl Driscoll showed us around SpaceTEC where he is both a teacher and curator. He had many antique artifacts to show us: pictures signed by the first sixteen astronauts, books autographed by Apollo mission commanders, and much else. It was interesting to see what type of artifact attracted which cadets; some preferred the written documents, but others looked for the hardware. Among the written documents was a book authored and signed by Jim Lovell, the Apollo 13 Commander. “My favorite artifact was the picture collection of ideas for what Apollo 13 would have done on the moon,” said Cadet Master Sgt. Tim Fisher.

Next it was time to enjoy the junior engineer’s ultimate dream: the process of designing, building, testing, and refinement. We built our rockets out of construction paper and scotch tape. Cadets built a rocket each for themselves, often with ideas borrowed from others mixed with their own. Rocket sizes varied wildly. One was nearly 5 feet tall, and the shortest one was about 3 inches long. Everything in between was as different from one another as could be. Some cadets build a rocket modeled after a cruise missile, others' were more like Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, still others built theirs like air-to-air missiles.

After lunch, we toured the Explosive Ordinance Disposal facility on Patrick Air Force Base. Thanks to Senior Airman Michael Bennington and Airman First Class Matt Morris, we got to see most of the equipment they had on hand and even try on a bomb suit that protects wearers from 5 pounds of TNT that they are right on top of. The suit weighs a whopping 74 pounds, and would be as hot as an oven if it weren’t for the onboard ventilation system. I ought to know: I had the chance to get into the suit and did 20 pushups at the bidding of my curious fellow cadets; they wanted to see if I could do them. It got pretty warm, pretty fast.

After touring the EOD, we went to the BCC Planetarium and Observatory on the Cocoa Campus of Brevard Community College to watch several astronomical presentations in a 3-D Theater. The first movie talked about how big the universe really is; the second showed the patterns of sun flares, sunspots, and more. It was really interesting.

Following the movies, we went to the observatory to look through their high-powered telescope and watch an iridium flash, which is nothing more than the sun’s rays reflecting off the satellite’s solar panels.

After we left the Planetarium, some cadets went to Ron Jon’s surf shop to pick up extra items for tomorrow, when we'll be re going to the beach to kayak and swim on the river. It should be a great day.