Last week Peter and Janet Russell spoke to the Club with photos and video on their visits to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and the Johnston Space centre in Houston.Peter began with some background information about the beginning of the space race and showed pictures of the Saturn 5 Rocket used for the Apollo missions.
On their second visit to Florida they had hoped to see a launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour but this was postponed several times. However they did see the Endeavour on the launch pad (see photo).
In Houston last year they heard a talk by the astronaut Jerry Ross who had been on no less than seven Shuttle flights. He had undertaken many space walks, one to help set up the International Space Station. A highlight of this visit was a view of the Houston Mission Control Room which now monitors the orbit of the ISS, and they were able to witness a live sunrise.
Peter and Janet finished with a brief presentation of their visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington which tracks the history of flight from the Wright brothers to the moon landing.