Blast Off into the Future! – The Spectacular Kennedy Space Center

Mission Zone: NASA Now + Next

During our Kennedy Space Center adventure, we’ve met the heroes and legends of NASA – the brave astronauts from missions past who paved the way to the stars. We’ve seen the space shuttle, Atlantis, who helped them get there. We’ve even been to the moon and back with Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins.

Now that we understand the past, we can take a giant leap from that solid foundation and into the future in Kennedy Space Center’s Mission Zone: NASA Now + Next. . .

Journey to Mars: Explorers Wanted

Your journey into the future begins with a quote from the past plastered above the image of a rocket hurtling into space:

“Hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” –Ernest Shackleton

Although Shackleton was advertising for an Antarctic expedition, the words are just as apt for a journey to Mars. NASA’s technology is always developing and evolving, but no matter how advanced the rocket or the rover, the journey will always be perilous. 

You proceed into the exhibit with this in mind and find yourself seeing red. You are now part of the current mission to the Red Planet! There are replicas of the rovers who are already trundling across the planet’s rusty surface millions of miles away. While the name “rover” might have you thinking of a dog, you might be surprised to find one is actually the size of a small SUV!¹

Big or small, there’s something endearingly pet-like about them as they roll obediently along on their six wheels. (Or maybe Disney-Pixar’s WALL-E has just made me sentimental.)

You’ll meet Spirit and Opportunity, a pair of sibling rovers. Spirit and Opportunity were “launched in 2003 to explore Mars and search for signs of past life.”² The planned mission was 90 days long, but Spirit surpassed the expectations given to her, staying on Mars for years. She was precious in the understanding wind on Mars. Unfortunately, Spirit got stuck in the soft Martian soil in 2009 and had only 5 working wheels. She went silent in 2010 and attempts to rescue her were abandoned in 2015.

Opportunity, nicknamed “Oppy,” also outlasted the 90 days, turning them into a 14-year mission. “In its record-breaking time on Mars, the rover drove more than 28 miles, finding some of the first definitive signs of past liquid water on the red planet’s surface.”³ Oppy fell silent in 2018 after one of the most severe dust storms on record overtook the rover. Project manager for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission, John Callas, said it was a “phenomenal accomplishment,” but that “we have made that human bond, so saying goodbye is a lot harder.”⁴ Oppy’s technical last transmission has been poetically rendered as “My battery is low, and it’s getting dark.”⁵

The SUV-sized rover, and perhaps the best-known, is Curiosity. Curiosity and the Mars Science Laboratory “is the most ambitious Mars mission yet flown by NASA.”⁶ Curiosity has been exploring since 2012, striving to discover more about Mars’ environment and if it is, or ever was, suitable for life. It has been successful in gathering geographical information and even found an ancient oasis!⁷ Curiosity continues to roam the Red Planet today.

What’s next for Mars? First, you can get an up-close look at the newest concept vehicle for off-roading on Mars, the Mars Rover Vehicle Navigator. (Picture the Batmobile – for space!)

The Mars Perseverance rover mission was launched last summer, with the rover touching down just this February. “Percy” is well-equipped with a drill for collecting core samples of rocks and is trundling over Martian soil even as you read this! You can see what Percy is up to on NASA’s website and even vote on the best pictures it’s taken every week. This mission is especially focused on testing a method for producing oxygen on Mars and identifying other resources. Percy’s main goal is preparing the way for astronauts to live on Mars!⁸ 

Hubble, Meet James Webb

You saw a replica of the Hubble Space Telescope in Kennedy Space Center’s Mission Zone: Shuttle, but now it’s time to see what it has captured. Experience a live presentation of the universe in 3D 4K resolution in the Universe Theatre! You’ll feel like you’re there, floating among the stars beside Hubble. It’s a great way to get a glimpse of deep space without having to leave your home planet! The images will leave you breathless and feeling small, eclipsed by the vastness of creation. 

If Hubble and its images weren’t enough to impress you, just wait until you hear what’s next! NASA is building a new telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb “is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope.”⁹ Webb will be so powerful it can “look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today!”¹⁰

Back to the Moon

As you head into the NASA Now exhibit, prepare to be met by rockets, crew vehicles, replicas, and even a cute little nanosatellite called a CubeSat! (Can satellites be cute? They can when they are only 4 inches long and deployed from a “P-POD”!¹¹)

Each mechanical marvel represents something currently in use by NASA or something to be used in the near future. One of these capsules is especially notable, if not as cute as the CubeSat – the Orion Crew Vehicle. It is a perfect “spokes-capsule” for NASA’s current project, as well as her future.  

The Orion Cockpit has been designed with the smallest details in mind, from blocking out enough light so the crew can get to sleep to a special alarm tone that alerts rather than startles the crew.¹² A test version of Orion was part of an important test called Ascent Abort-2. The test demonstrated, with success, how “the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system can outrun a speeding rocket and pull astronauts to safety in case of an emergency during launch.”¹³ It’s an amazing development to help prevent more tragedies like those we witnessed in the Heroes & Legends exhibit. 

But what future NASA missions require Orion’s technology?

Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA, reveals, “We’re building the most powerful rocket in the world to send astronauts to the Moon in the Orion spacecraft for Artemis missions.”¹⁴

That’s right – it’s been fifty years since the race to the moon, and now we’re headed back again! The Artemis missions are set to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024.¹⁵ The goal of the mission is to explore the entire surface of the moon, starting with its South Pole. The astronauts will also learn to live on the Moon and operate new technologies. Ultimately, Artemis is preparation for sending astronauts to Mars. 

Seeing the Orion Crew Vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center is something you’ll not see at other museums because when you’re looking at Orion, you’re looking not at the past but at the future. 

Without NASA’s past and those to appreciate and learn from it, this bright future wouldn’t be possible. Kennedy Space Center’s four mission zones perfectly encapsulate the necessity of meshing past, present, and future. Indeed, even the name and logo for the Artemis missions is a call to both the past and future. “This new identity draws inspiration from the Apollo program logo and mission patch. Using an ‘A’ as the primary visual and a trajectory from Earth to the Moon, we honor all that the Apollo program achieved. However, through Artemis, we will forge our own path, pursue lunar exploration like never before, and pave the way to Mars.”¹⁶

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Have you been to Kennedy Space Center’s Mission Zone: NASA Now + Next? What did you think? And which of NASA’s future projects are you most excited for? The James Webb Space Telescope, the Perseverance Mars rover, or the Artemis missions? Let us know in the comments below!

Thank you for joining us on these missions! We’ll see you again when it’s time for Kennedy Space Center to add on Mission Zone: From the Moon to Mars. Until then. . .over and out!

(If you missed our first installments of the Kennedy Space Center series or just want to reread them, you can click these links for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3!)

Cover Image

Photo: Kevin Gill via Flickr

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