Hi! My name is Harley, writer of the monthly Kidz Korner column. This month’s topic is the Kennedy Space Center. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s on the east coast of Florida in Cape Canaveral, where they launch rockets into space.
You may remember that I’m a member of American Heritage Girls, a faith-based scouting program. My troop, specifically, has tons of special events, and one of them was collaborating with other troops in Tampa Bay to spend a night at KSC! The plan was to sleep under a real, retired rocket, Atlantis, which was – as I found out afterward – my best friend’s favorite.
Saturday, after we blasted off from our home region of Earth and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, there was so much inviting us! Long-lost friends from summer camp, plaques to read, and security gates to enter!
After the American Heritage Girls were inside, our troop toured the Rocket Garden, which contains real rockets that have not been to space. As you know, things are cheaper when you buy them in bulk – like paper towels. And that is precisely what NASA did, except with rocket parts.
Then, everyone explored the various exhibits and learned from tour guides about the history of space exploration (which isn’t long).
At the end, we split into teams and built a bridge model! We were informed that triangles are the strongest shapes in nature. The opportunity to sleep under Atlantis was insane! It was so tough to fall asleep.
The Overnight Adventure program was officially over on Sunday morning, but the adventure was just beginning!
Some of us took a bus tour to NASA. There, we watched a ton of entertaining and educational shows! Additionally, we learned a lot about all the different Apollo missions to the moon, which was my favorite part.
Back at the complex, we partook in a simulation takeoff, which was. . .disorienting, to say the least. Who couldn’t be just an iota fazed after being tipped all the way back, in a chair, at a right angle, and shaken vigorously? However, the space launch and commentary were so interesting!
When the center closed at five, my mom and I exited content with lots of info to mull over. It was a fabulous experience!
“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is,” as Douglas Adams, an English author and humorist, quoted. And it’s true. Think of the longest journey you’ve ever made. The distance from Florida to California is just under 3,000 miles, an aggressive four-and-a-half month trip by foot. And that’s a long way. But the distance around the earth is over eight times that!
Departing from our home planet, the distance to our Sun is 93 million miles, or just 8.3 light minutes (the distance that light travels in a minute). And from the Sun to the eighth planet in our solar system, Neptune, is four light hours (the distance that light travels in an hour).
One light year equals 8,766 light hours, which is still unfathomable. And the distance from our teeny-weeny world to the edge of the observable universe is about 46.5 billion light years!
However, if our universe is so ginormous, our infinite God must be so much bigger!
I hope you enjoyed this inspiring article! While doing lots of research on light-conversions, polar circumferences, and suchlike head-splitting stuff, I discovered that the next LUNAR EXPEDITION LANDING THIGAMABOBBER is taking off from the Kennedy Space Center! I plan to return there in a few years (which seems like FOREVER to an eleven-year-old) to experience the launch of one of the Artemis missions!
Stay tuned for next month’s column!
Harley Isabel Smith is a homeschooled 6th grader who has been featured on TV as a philanthropist, has a heart for evangelism, and writes monthly for the Gazette’s Kidz Korner. Visit https://harleyisabelsmith.com where she is constantly adding written and video content to entertain and educate children. Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”