[gary]

Some snapshots taken during a visit to the Johnson Space Flight Center,
Houston, Texas in March of this year.

Despite being old enough to have excitedly witnessed the Apollo missions
in the 60's and 70's and over the decades having read several of the
historical accounts and technical descriptions, nothing still prepared
me for the first sight of the Saturn V even when I expected to be impressed.

It would be the most impressive object I have seen constructed by human
hands.

To convey something of the sense of awe, if you were walking in the park
and a giant spacecraft landed next to you, you would be astounded.

But this is no Hollywood Starship Enterprise piece of fiction. This is the
real thing. A spacecraft that conveyed men to the Moon and back.

The first stage F-1 engines produced over 1.5 million pounds of thrust each
and operated for all but two and a half minutes, propelling the Saturn V
to a height of 42 miles.

Elsewhere at the Space Center, work was underway on the Orion
Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and a mockup was on display in the
simulation center.