The “Business End” Of The Saturn V Rocket - Part 2 - Infinity Science Museum

Deep Ocean Explorer

We walked past the Deep Ocean Explorer simulator and the nice young man running it asked if we would like to go through the simulation.  We said sure.

He locked us in for our "decent".

Mark ready to take action! 

Our mission was to locate and repair a leaking wellhead, using an Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV).

As we “descended” to the bottom of the ocean the windows showed life in the ocean.

We found it!

After the simulator it was time for our movie (an extra charge of $4 each).  We saw Journey Into Space 3D.

Yikes!

It’s a great short film about walking on the moon, continuously living in orbit and the next stop - Mars.

A wonderful 3-D movie.

There were several things to see outside too.

Lunar Lander - Use to train for moon landings

In 1995, NOAA began the development of the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) system to provide better warnings for tsunami-prone communities.

TAO

NOAA completed the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array of buoys for the detection of El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific Ocean in 1994.  Today there are 70 permanent buoys moored along the Pacific.

So, what is the “business end” of the Saturn V?

Infinity’s newest space exhibit, the Apollo 19 Saturn V first stage, was originally slated for the cancelled Apollo 19 mission.

What is it?  A giant rocket stage boasting 5 massive F-1 engines.  It's the first of the three stages of a Saturn V rocket, the same rocket that was used by NASA to support the Apollo program, and took Neil Armstrong and 23 others into orbit around the moon and enabled 12 of them to actually walk on it. 

Only this one never flew. It was one of several pieces left over after Apollo 17, the last moon landing.  

“F-1 Rocket Engine – Developed by Rocketdyne in the 1950s, five F-1 engines were used to power the S-1C first stage of the Saturn V rocket that launched humans to the moon during the Apollo Program. The engine still is the most powerful single-chamber liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed. The Saturn V was the largest operational launch vehicle ever produced. Standing over 363 feet high with its Apollo spacecraft payload, it produced over 7.5 million pounds of thrust at lift-off.”

The staff announced that the Center was closing as we raced through the gift shop.  I didn’t see any magnets that I liked so I didn’t buy one, but it would have been magnet worthy. 

They had to kick us out!

The “Business End” Of The Saturn V Rocket - Part 1 - NASA

We’ve moved from Louisiana to Mississippi.

State line.

We arrived at our RV site a little after noon and decided to go on to the Infinity Science Museum and have lunch there.

Entrance.

When we paid our entry fee ($15 for seniors), we were told it included a free bus tour of a nearby NASA facility.  We signed up for the tour then headed to the cafe for, surprisingly, a very good lunch.

Thirty minutes before the bus was to depart, we had to present ourselves with our driver’s license to the front desk.  Soon it was time to board the bus.  Although the Science Center was full of school kids, there were only 6 other passengers taking the NASA tour.

Comfortable, air conditioned bus.

It is a short ride to the Stennis Space Center. 

Entry gate.

We passed through the restricted gates of the 14,000-acre research facility.

Built in the 1960′s to test the history-making Saturn V rocket engines that carried men to the moon, the Stennis complex now has many federal, state and educational agencies, as well as private high-tech companies and corporations like Rolls Royce.

NOAA 

It’s also home to the largest concentration of oceanographers in the world, most of whom are working at the U.S. Navy's Meteorology and Oceanography Command based here.

Navel Oceanography Command.

There is a 125,000-acre buffer zone (used to block sound) surrounding the Saturn V rocket test stand. When testing, the rocket motor was unbelievably loud, being heard and felt for miles in every direction. When the space center was built, 660 families were relocated to outside of the buffer zone.

Testing pad for Saturn V rocket.  

A3 (left), A1 (right), A2 (center)

We headed to 3 other testing pads.  The closest pad (A2) is used to test the new SLS that will be going to Mars.  The buffer zone for this pad is only 300 yards!

This is a short 40-minute tour but very enjoyable.  Soon we were back at the Science Center.  All the school kids were gone, and we almost had the place to ourselves. 

There are a lot of things to do here! 

Simulators and artifacts, video theaters, Smithsonian-loaned artifacts, and a life-sized, walk-through mock-up of the International Space Station's Destiny module. 

International Space Station

Space suit technology, new space rockets, pre-Apollo history and a progression of NASA programs from Apollo and Gemini to International Space Station and the new SLS program, designed to take the first humans to Mars. 

We don’t exactly fit in a space suit.

Space food looks pretty disgusting.

Grits with butter.

 Spaghetti with meat sauce.

Cauliflower with cheese.

The Apollo II Virtual Reality Simulator was fun!!  It’s very loud and the seats move and pitch and throw you all over the place.  We had to wear seat belts!  There is an extra charge ($6) but worth it.  I’m glad no one else was around.  I think we were yelling at each other to be heard over the roar in our ear-pieces.

The Spectrum was very interesting!

X-ray

Ultraviolet

Visible

We can only see light within a certain range of wavelengths and frequency.  This range is called the visible spectrum.

Infrared

Microwave.

The electromagnetic spectrum includes a wide range of light waves, some that we can't see.  Some of the non-visible types of waves are radio waves, microwaves, infrared rays and x-rays.

Mark was making waves on this Volksmeter II (used to measure low-frequency seismic activity).

More stuff to play with.

Next time:  The most powerful single-chamber liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed.

More Than Just Flying Discs

Although we are in Mississippi we are still close to the Louisiana border.  There is a disc golf course in New Orleans, about an hour from us, that Mark wanted to play.  This course is new and is expected to become the number one course in Louisiana.

It is a beautiful course built in a Cypress Swamp.

You DON’T want to throw out of bounds.  Last week this area got 7 inches of rain in 12 hours!  It was pretty wet in areas.

Shankopotamus

Great fairways and lots of cool trees make it an interesting course.

But - there is a lot more here than just flying discs.

There are dragonflies.

Interesting fungi.

The levy.

Woolly Bears.

Flowers.

Swamps.

More swamps.

It’s a very nice disc golf course but is also much more than that!