by Alex Martin, Executive Director
July 31, 2024
This expedition was funded using contributions from our donors and small cash donations we receive at our free-to-public Sidewalk Science Centers every week. Thank you for your support! This team retreat was free for all SSC employees who attended, and was free or low-cost for our invited guests. To support future educational experiences for our team and other guests (perhaps yourself!), make a tax-deductible donation here.
Outside of our bigger trips to view eclipses from volcanoes and the middle of Indiana, we at Sidewalk Science Center have also been making efforts to incorporate more trips that promote team bonding and explore fields of study and experiences that we might not be very familiar with. Our trip to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 27th was the first of these "team retreats!
Four SSC members, a guest teacher, a current high school student, and one of my own former high school students (who graduated this year!) hopped in a rental Chevy Traverse and trekked across Florida to the Space Coast. SSC team members who attended were: Alex Martin (Executive Director), Jessica (Event Coordinator - Tampa Bay), Heather (Event Coordinator - Gulf Coast), and Chap (Astronomer)
Below is a timeline outlining everything we did that day! You can view the full gallery of images here.
SSC Team Retreat & Guest Ride-Along
7:00am
We meet in Bradenton and head out!
10:19am
We arrive in Titusville and explore the Astronaut Hall of Fame at Space View Park, where monuments to each crewed flight program stand tall to commemorate the astronauts and the thousands of people who worked on each mission, from Mercury-Redstone through the Shuttle era. Handprints of every astronaut line the walkways, and the front of the park opens across the Indian River with views of launch pads up and down the east coast.
11:31am
We arrive at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. After waiting in line with hundreds of people from tour buses, we make it to the famed rocket garden, where replicas of rockets used throughout various eras of US spaceflight stand tall, a sight that can't be missed.
11:57am
We enter the Gateway Complex, the most recent and modern experience at KSC, which showcases what we in the industry term "New Space". Above us, a flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (Booster 23) and a Sierra Space Dream Chaser hang from the ceiling, while on the floor, an assortment of crew and cargo capsules allow us inside views of the vehicles people ride to space. An ethereal purple and blue glow illuminates the interior, providing the sense that this is the future of spaceflight.
1:22pm
We join a high school team from Arizona at KSC's education center, where a competition called "Space Systems Design" is taking place. 260 students from around the world are here to work in teams and design true-to-life systems that complete a series of challenges, everything from growing food in space stations, to landing crewed spacecraft on the Moon, to manufacturing infrastructure in low- and zero-gravity reference frames.
2:25pm
We enter the Shuttle Complex, where Space Shuttle Atlantis hangs prominently, a true testament to human ingenuity and the work accomplished in Low Earth Orbit between 1981 and 2011.
3:15pm
We get Dippin' Dots...
3:26pm
...and are told we (obviously) can't bring the ice cream on the bus to the Apollo Center, the last of which leaves in just 4 minutes. Three of us end up with brain freezes as we scarf the ice cream down, leaving us all wondering who thought buying ice cream right before getting on the bus was a good idea (*cough*Breanna*cough*).
Okay, I admit: it was definitely my idea.
3:50pm
We arrive at the Apollo Center, which highlights the Apollo Program. A Saturn V rocket hangs above us and stretches down the entire complex, at the end of which is a to-scale model of the Lunar Lander, part of which still sits on the Moon at Tranquility Base. Outside, you are only 3.5 miles from Pad 39A, where every Apollo mission launched, many of the shuttles, and now, most of SpaceX's crewed and uncrewed missions.
6:15pm
We arrive at Cocoa Beach and have dinner on the pier next to the roar of the waves crashing in from the Atlantic Ocean. There's no launch while we're here, but the experiences and the time spent together has made the day one to remember for all.
10:50pm
We return to Bradenton and look forward to the next expedition together! And hey, maybe you can, too...
Alex Martin is the Executive Director of Sidewalk Science Center. He founded Sidewalk Science Center back in July 2018. Learn more about him here.
Sidewalk Science Center's mission is to provide regular and reliable access to educational tools and resources in public spaces. Experiences like this help us to create avenues for interest and engagement in scientific discourse, and we are dedicated to contributing accurate and reliable information from sources directly involved in the information we present.
If you would like to help us continue and expand our mission and bring more coverage of news in the science, astronomy, and education communities, please consider making a tax-deductible donation at our 2024 Fundraiser, or by becoming a monthly member of our Patreon page.
Sidewalk Science Center is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Any donations made to our organization are tax deductible. FEIN # 92-0360191.
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