Back @ Redstone Arsenal, AL

 To get to Redstone this trip required three states. Keep in mind, we started in Tennessee:

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Yes folks, the Garmin had us leave Tennessee for Georgia so we could drive back into Tennessee to get to Alabama.

The drive was uneventful with the exception of construction at most of the major highway changes we had.

What I liked about the campground was the large concrete pads, even with the 5th wheel there was plenty of room. The drawback this trip was the 95°+ days and no shade, the air conditioner was working most of the day until evening hours. The newer section had a bit more sun protection, but there were fewer spaces and gravel sites.

One of our goals was to re-visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center to see if the space shuttle returned.

The shuttle was landing as we arrived. They still needed to put the wings on it and close up other openings. It only took five years for the shuttle to return.

This trip we decided to take in one of their shows, You in Space, in the Intuitive Theatre. The theatre was one of those dome style. The show was about each of the planets, Carol and I were both surprised at how many moons some of the planets had. Saturn became the record holder last year when they discovered more moons orbiting it; the total number is 149, over taking Jupiter for the top spot. We also learned that Venus is called Earth's, Evil Twin. The way I understood it, it was because of her atmosphere, it could crush us like we crush ants, and contains toxic gases.

After the show we headed out to see what was different in regards to exhibits.

We all know that 3-D printing has become the new rage, well that is no different for NASA.

Their technology branch invented Cellular Fabrication (C-Fab). This process can make stronger, lightweight structures with less material. They believe that in the next couple of decades homes and other structures will be manufactured this way, but I'm guessing it would be for those that could afford it.

Another intriguing project, which is not new to some humans, is food from bugs.

Just think, instead of using almond flour, or wheat flour for your biscuits, you could use cricket flour... yum, yum.

Actually, what they are researching are ways to produce high-protein food for those who choose to live on Mars.

 To get a pound of cricket protein only requires a gallon of water, three pounds of food, 50 square feet of space. with those numbers grocery stores might become a-thing-of-the-past.

Another new exhibit was the observation window:

My thought was: would you get sucked out the window if one of the panes fell out.

Thinking minds always want to know how to move using the sun, this is how:

SOLAR SAIL

These are used to propel small spacecraft through space. They use reflected protons from the sun's rays to propel the spacecraft. These sails are thinner than a human hair, but they didn't say which color. They are made of a plastic film coated with an aluminum coating.

An example of one of the spacecrafts that used this solar sail was the Near Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout); the sail was the size of a tennis court, or roughly 925 square feet.

A future mission, Solar Cruiser, will have a solar sail the size of roughly six tennis courts, or 17,800 square feet. If we run out of aluminum foil you will know where it went.

Recently, space travel was opened to civilians, and that was through the SpaceX's spacecraft Dragon. The four civilians that flew the Inspiration4 mission were there because they made people aware of cancer research for children, and raised $240M for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. 

Let's go back and talk about 3-D printing.

This was one of the space suits worn by the crew on that Inspiration4 mission. Each one of the suits was custom-tailored, and could provide the crewmember a pressurized environment during normal atypical situations. It also routed communications and cooling to the crewmember during regular flight. The gloves were touchscreen compatible, and the suit outer layer was flame-retardant. This is where 3-D comes in, the helmet was 3-D printed.

The crewmember that wore this suit is now an instructor here at Space Camp. Speaking of Space Camp, it was happening while we were there... kids of all ages everywhere.

I spoke of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission... well there is another company competing for attention in the space travel race, that would be, Blue Origin. Some of their technology was on exhibit this trip.

BE-3U ROCKET ENGINE

There are three of these engines that propel the second stage of the New Glenn rocket, the first stage is propelled by seven BE-4 engines (not on exhibit).

Like SpaceX, the purpose of Blue Origin is to allow civilians to experience space travel. For a few million dollars riders can reserve a seat on one of the flights, and will travel first-class in a seat much like this one:

For that few million dollars the passenger gets their own tailored space suit, name tag included.

If you are really interested in either company, check out their websites by typing their company name. The BE-3U engine is built in Huntsville, AL.

This is display was here the first time, but I like to remember the two chimps, Able and Baker, that rode in it and came back alive. This journey happened in 1959. Ms. Baker is  buried outside of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Our next stop was an exhibit of the Webb Space Telescope. 

WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

I couldn't do much about the lighting. I do not have any images to post, but you can go to: webbtelescope.org for images.

After we had lunch we headed outside and over to the Richardson Building. There were changes happening outside that prevented us from seeing rockets up close, but I did get a few pictures.

There were trees here at one time, and the rockets were laying down. It will probably be open again in a couple of weeks.

They had an apple tree growing by the walking path to the Richardson Building. I know you're asking what's the big deal... the seeds traveled into space and back in 1998.

On display in the Richardson Building is the capsule that Able and Baker traveled in: 

Doesn't look like much, but it played a big part in the U.S. space program.

The reality of our space program goes back to America bringing over nearly 1600 German scientists and technicians to study the V-2 rocket technology. America didn't produce any V-2 rockets, the interests were with space and how to build a rocket to get us there.

The Richardson Bldg. didn't change much from last visit, however, there was still much to learn.

In the beginning there were failures in the process which were studied, and changes made. For example, engineers took closer looks at failed parts to identify how the part failed. This was done by putting the part in plastic and cutting it up.

They studied the pieces through a microscope, trying to identify the smallest flaw or failure in the material.

What continued to amaze Carol and I was the minds that designed and built machinery like the F-1 engine:

F-1 ENGINE

LUNAR EXCURSION MODULE

LUNAR ROVER VEHICLE

X-ray Photography

Did you ever wonder how Skylab astronauts were able to work in various situations, I hadn't thought about it, here was how they did it:

You cyclists out there might recognize this idea. The crewmember was able to lock their shoes in place.

You may remember when the astronauts came home they were ushered to an isolation trailer, the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF), for a designated duration.

This is one of three known to be in existence. It was believed to have been destroyed in a fire after the Apollo 12 mission. Come to find out it was in the hands of the Biological Resources Division, of the U.S. Department of Forestry, and being used by students at a fish hatchery. Once discovered, it was donated to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. 

It did not look like what it does today, a lot of time took its toll.

BEFORE RESTORATION

AFTER RESTORATION

Home we headed, We got home and I decided to play with dinner. 

***** FOR YOU NON-LOVERS OF SEAFOOD, YOU CAN SKIP THE NEXT PORTION *****

I chose to sauté some sea scallops and create a cream sauce. The sauce was my own invention, and probably will never be able to duplicate. Anyway, the sauce was the Ghee, scallop juices, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, heavy cream, and Bourbon Cream whiskey. The meal was very good, Carol said so.

The hot, humid weather slowed us down on the tourist trap indoor attractions, most of which we saw the last time we were there. Several consecutive days the temps hit the 100° mark, with humidity over 60%. The little air conditioner did the best it could, and we were proud of it. I broke us down in between thunderstorms, and finished what was left on the day we departed for Millington, TN