Over this past year, I have often been asked the question of whether it feels like I am an astronaut. That has always been a difficult question to answer. Sure, I have done a heap of fun, interesting and challenging things. Yes, I have spent many hours in simulators and many, many more hours in classes learning about the Shuttle (not to mention all the hours I have put in at home studying). There are also the autograph requests that I have received and the educational outreach that I done. And, let's not forget about flying in the T-38s. . . But, even with all of that going on, I am not sure I really felt like I was an astronaut. Of course, I was not sure how being an astronaut was supposed to feel. However, after this trip, I definitely feel like I am an astronaut.

Why, you ask? Well, it is because I have been given a key to the crew quarters at KSC. In one of the buildings (in fact, the one that is in the background when you see a crew walking down the ramp to get on the bus that will take them to the launch pad for their flight) there is a suite of rooms that astronauts often stay in when they are on travel to KSC. We stayed here on this trip. This is the location where the crews stay before their flights when they are in quarantine. In crew quarters, aside from having some office type space, some common areas and an eating area, there are several little bedrooms. These bedrooms are basically small hotel rooms with no windows. If you have ever watched any of the pre-launch video and have seen crews getting helped into their launch and entry suits, the room where this happens is in crew quarters. At any rate, you have to have a key to have access into the crew area and I have been given my very own! I feel like I am officially part of the club now. . .

The reason that there are no windows in the crew quarters is because quite often a crew must shift the time they start their day based on the time of their launch. There are no windows to prevent the crew seeing sunshine when it is supposed to be "night time" for them. In addition to not having windows, there are really, really bright lights that can be turned on in the common areas so the crew can have "daylight" when it is dark outside. Controlling the amount of light and when they experience it help the crews shift their sleep schedule.

Our first stop on Monday's tour was over on the Cape Canaveral side. For those that are not familiar with the Kennedy Space Center area, there are actually two sides to the space complex - one side is NASA KSC and the other is the Air Force's Cape Canaveral. On the "Cape" side there are the launch pads for the first launches in the human space flight program. This is where the rockets for the Mercury and Gemini flights were launched from. We got to see the original launch control center and many of the original launch pads. Following our Cape tour we had the standard hello from KSC management. In the afternoon we toured what is called the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). This is the place where much of the Shuttle maintenance and overhaul is done. When we first entered into the main area of the OPF, it was difficult, if not impossible, to tell that there was a Shuttle inside, since it was completely surrounded with scaffolding. But, indeed, there was a Shuttle hiding in there. We were able to see most of it in little bits and pieces through the scaffolding. One of the neatest views we got was at the aft end - you can stand right behind the engine bells for the main engines. They are huge. You can really get a sense of their power when you are looking up their throats. Following the OPF we were taken over to see the remains of the Columbia Shuttle. The searchers and volunteers were able to collect around thirty percent of the Shuttle from northeast Texas. It was a rather intense emotional experience for me to see the wreckage.

On Tuesday our tour guides kept us moving. We started out by a run through the Space Station Processing Facility where they have all the Station hardware waiting to go. Then we went over to the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB). The VAB is a very recognizable building - it is the hugely tall building where they put together the Shuttle and its solid rockets and external tank. It is often shown on TV. The VAB was also used to assemble the Saturn V rockets, which is why it is so tall. We got to see the Shuttle that will be going up first when we start flying again. All the component have been assembled together and it was sitting on the mobile launch platform waiting for the giant crawler to come take it out to the launch pad.

After the VAB, we were taken out to one of the Shuttle launch pads. We got to go up to the level where the crew enters the hatch of the Shuttle. The elevator that takes you up doesn't have "floors" that it stops on; it has numbers of feet up. The Shuttle hatch is at the 195 foot level. You definitely don't want to be up there if you have any kind of vertigo since the structure that you are walking on is metal grating. You can see all the way down to the ground in many places. You can certainly get a good panoramic view of KSC and the Cape from up there, though.

After the launch pad we went to see the Launch Control Center. Then we had a briefing on some of the events at KSC that we will be doing in the future. One of the things that NASA and its contractors do to reward outstanding employees is to send them to see a launch. This is one of the top awards that you can get at NASA. As you might guess, it is a big deal. The astronauts have many appearance roles at these events. They also have a big role to play with the other launch guests - giving briefings to the public, providing commentary during the countdown, etc., so we were told about what we will be up to some day when we are released to do these events.

Following the briefing, we did a quick drive through the family and VIP viewing areas for a launch, then headed out to the Shuttle Landing Site. There is a lot of concrete in that runway. We ended the day with a brief tour through the KSC Visitor Complex. We surely saw a lot today. And, as I said, there is nothing like seeing the actual hardware.

For most of the day on Wednesday we did educational outreach. Half of our class went to Orlando to a science fair and the rest of us went to the KSC Visitor Complex and talked to school groups and other visitors to KSC. As usual, talking to the kids was a lot of fun. After our outreach our KSC tour was officially over. However, it turned out that in the afternoon, the Shuttle for the next flight was "rolling out" to the launch pad. So, since we were in the area, some of us decided to change to a later flight in the day and watch the Shuttle make its way to the launch pad. The rollout of the Shuttle is a huge milestone in the KSC flow of work. I can't even begin to tell you how impressive it is to see the crawler slowly carrying the Shuttle down the road. It is one of the few times on the ground that one can see a Shuttle not surrounded by scaffolding. The roadway that the crawler travels on is about the size of an eight lane freeway. It has been specially constructed to be able to withstand the weight of the crawler and the Shuttle (many millions of pounds). At its top speed when it is loaded with a Shuttle, the crawler goes about one mile an hour. It pretty much takes all day for it to get to the launch pad. I am very glad I stayed and witnessed some of its trek. My hat is off to the folks at KSC who prepare the Shuttle for a flight. They are a dedicated bunch who does magnificent work.

Back at the ranch on Thursday, I had most of the day free. I believe that our original trip to Florida had us returning on Thursday, so no technical classes were scheduled. I tried to take the opportunity of a free day to get a lot of T-38 flying in. I was even lucky enough to round up a pilot who needed flight hours and was willing to fly the whole day. However, the plane gods were not with us. We could only get a plane for the morning. So we went to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and back. I have heard that there is a famous hamburger at Tinker (the Tinker burger, of course). But, since we were there at 9:00 in the morning, it wasn't really burger time. I guess I'll have to go back and try the burger some other day. Since I was available in the afternoon, I had a Russian lesson.

Friday we were back at the technical lessons. We had two classes today. The first was on malfunctions and their associated procedures for the auxiliary power units and hydraulic systems. This class was in preparation for a single systems trainer lesson next week on these types of failures. Our second class was on the sensors and controllers used to provide information to the guidance software. There are a variety of accelerometers and gyroscopes that provide information to the software on the accelerations and rotations of the Shuttle. All of this information is used to keep the Shuttle going in the direction it is supposed to be going.

All in all, a great week!