7th July 2006: Day 7

Kennedy Space Center
After the long-range chase the day before, we were now located in west Melbourne on the Atlantic coast. Prospects for the day's weather were for the unusually positioned cold front to continue heading southwards through the area, bringing numerous thunderstorms during the afternoon. Our plan was to head to the Kennedy Space Centre near Cape Canaveral during the morning and early afternoon, with the possibility of a chase during the late afternoon.

The morning started dry with cirrus in the sky, and the hazy sunshine slowly burning through. We arrived at Kennedy just before 9am. We would have been there earlier, but the main drawbridge across to the island was stuck in the 'up' position, so all traffic was being funnelled across the westbound carriageway bridge.

We purchased tickets for the 'NASA Up Close' tour, which allowed us to see much of the NASA operation up-close on a guided tour. The tour lasted a good couple of hours during the morning, and took us to numerous sites on the huge complex. This included stops to view the main launch pads, including pad 39B from which the shuttle had blasted off earlier in the week. We also stopped next to the huge Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter is fixed to the fuel tank and boosters, and which is famous for being the tallest single-storey structure in the world. Rumour has it cumulus clouds have been seen forming inside the building on foggy days! We also toured around various other sites, including the main Crawler-strips and the huge Crawler-tracked vehicles used to carry the shuttle to the launch pads.

By early afternoon, skies were darkening, and distant thunder could be heard. Our last visit was to a large IMAX cinema to watch a 3D documentary about the moon landings. Whilst we were in the cinema, the skies unloaded outside. Lightning was very frequent, and the thunder was explosive! The rain came down like we'd never seen before. Everywhere was under inches of water, and in places the water approached a foot deep! In just one hour, between 2pm and 3pm local time, over 4 inches of rain had fallen. This extract from the National Weather Service confirms this:

925
NWUS52 KMLB 071930
LSRMLB

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
330 PM EDT FRI JUL 07 2006

..REMARKS..

0300 PM HEAVY RAIN KENNEDY SPACE CENTER 28.52N 80.68W
07/07/2006 M4.31 INCH BREVARD FL OTHER FEDERAL

RAINFALL BETWEEN THE HOUR OF 2 AND 3 PM.

The rain was still falling at this torrential rate around 4pm as we pulled out the main car park, which was only accessible to those willing to paddle or wade. Our drive home was equally as wet, with heavy and persistent rain across a large section of the Florida Peninsula. The cold front responsible carried on slowly southwards through the evening and overnight, and would have an influence on the following day's weather too.

Total mileage: 201

A sun dog greets us as we peer out the hotel window first thing in the morning.
.

Launch Pad 39B from a distance, but it's still too close to stand and watch the shuttle launch.
.

The tour included a trip to the building where work is being carried out on parts of the International Space Station. Some bits have just arrived from the European Space Agency, ready to be taken up in the shuttle.
.

The thunderstorms developing by early afternoon dwarfed even the Vehicle Assembly Building, which can be seen in the distance.
.