This morning we awoke to breezy conditions and light rain as Frances' reach extended into Northern Alabama. Not to be discouraged, however, we got out and bravely ventured across the parking lot to the Waffle House. After a hearty breakfast we headed to one of the most popular spots in the Huntsville area. Wal-Mart. We had packed everything except umbrellas. Then we finally pointed ourselves toward the U.S. Rocket & Space Center.

We knew this was going to be cool even from the day before. I would venture to guess that Alabama is the only state in the country with a rocket at its interstate welcome center. Sure enough, there's a Saturn IB (that's pronounced "wun-bee", not "ihb") up on blocks at the rest area.

Finding the Center was easy. It's the place with a bunch of rockets sticking up. We pulled in and I was pleased to see an SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most remarkable planes ever designed, at the entrance. [Note - I've since found out that this is not an SR-71, but an A-12 Blackbird, the forerunner of the SR-71. It can go higher and slightly faster than the later version. These things can literally go "faster than a speeding bullet.")

Since we still had to drive the rest of the way to our final destination, we decided to forego the IMAX movie and only see the Museum and the Rocket Park. Partly because of the weather and partly because it had only been open for about 20 minutes, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, other than a smattering of Space Camp kids, which was nice. The museum houses loads of exhibits about the history of space flight in America, from a story about how Robert Goddard's first liquid fueled rocket flew to a total height of 41 feet and a recreation of Wernher Von Braun's office to pieces of SkyLab. From wind tunnel models of proposed shuttle designs to a model of the International Space Station. It's well worth the time.

Here's a picture of SWMBO preparing to crash the shuttle in a simulator. And here is Thing 1 in front of the LEM and Rover models and lying inside a Mercury trainer. (Sorry about the redeye. I'll fix that and repost them.)

The Rocket Park was very cool indeed. There was another Saturn Ib, several Army rockets, some military missile hardware and a full Saturn V in stages, much like the one at Cape Canaveral. (See also this informative site.) It always amazes me how much of that huge rocket served the sole purpose of holding fuel and that, out of the whole 363-foot tall rocket, the only part that returned was a small, 10.5-foot module.

One of the coolest things, however, was the full Shuttle stack complete with external tank and solid rocket boosters. Although SWMBO and I have seen a shuttle on the launch pad in Florida, it was from a distance and through a telescope. No where else that I know of can you get this close to a shuttle assembly and even stand underneath it. While this shuttle, Pathfinder, is really just a steel mockup, it was actively used in training and preparation for the Shuttle program, primarily to test ground crew assembly, preparation and post-flight procedures.

In the midst of seeing all of this, I also took a spin (quite literally) in the G-Force Accelerator, which is basically a big centrifuge for people. If you've ever ridden the amusement park ride that spins around and the floor drops out (it was called the Rotor where I was) you've got a general idea what this entails, but you haven't really had the experience. You strap yourself onto what looks like a small, padded cot that's angled back slightly. There are about 30 or 40 of these around the wall. Then the door closes and the lights go down except for some UV tubes. Then you start to spin. So far it's pretty similar to the Rotor. But where the Rotor stopped accelerating when it reached enough speed, and thus centrifugal force, to hold you to the wall, this thing keeps going faster. You max out spinning at somewhere between 45 and 50 mph. Eventually, the backward angle of the cot thingy comes into play and you start to rise off of the floor. I hadn't realized before that point that these things even moved. They're on a track that's 18 inches or so longer than they are so they're free to travel up and down as the forces dictate. Whereas the Rotor allowed you some movement (we used to stick stuffed animals we had won to the wall next to us and one guy even turned himself upside down and back while spinning), you reach a point on this thing where you can't lift your head from the padding behind you and can barely move your arms. I was even finding it somewhat hard to swallow at full speed. This was equivalent to about 4 G's. I can't imagine what fighter pilots must feel like in a high-G turn.

All in all, this was a really neat place to see. The kids got into it and enjoyed themselves immensely. I only wish the weather had been a little more cooperative.

Eventually, though, we needed to get moving and hit the road once again. I don't mind driving in rain but, after about five solid hours, it starts to get a little old. When we got within about a hour of our destination, it finally cleared up and we made it to our hosts house with no further incident. But Frances was still to get the last laugh. Due to her effect on the winds, the tide was so low that we couldn't easily get on and off of the boat so we had to get a room. Oh well - maybe tomorrow.