North America 2021 Roadtrip: Stop #0: Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Welcome to the start of my two month roadtrip around America and Canada in a shiny new Tesla Model Y! Some of you may remember I documented the stops along my around-the-world trip in 2015 and I plan to do the same here again. I’m attaching images of the itinerary spreadsheet and Google Map so you can see where I’m going. I’m basically starting and ending in Nashville and following the coast clockwise then across Canada and back down. Give me a shout if I’ll be in your neck of the woods and we can try to meet up.
The genesis of the whole trip was the impending arrival of my first granddaughter, now known as Waverly. Jordan and Sami invited me to be here for a bit before and after her birth. I decided a Tesla would be a good zeroth birthday present for her, as it is the safest car ever tested and nothing is too good for that sweet sleeping, cooing, pooping and screaming bundle of joy. As a bonus, I claimed the right to take an epic two month roadtrip to see new places, old places, Tesla places, space places, friends and relatives all around the continent. At the end of the trip I’ll sadly hand over the keycards to Jordan and fly back to Thailand and hope that Tesla opens up local sales there someday. The trip and the car are funded by selling shares from my initial purchase of Tesla stock in 2012. Thanks Elon for the 14,097.11% increase in value!
When I ordered the Model Y in June, the confirmation said the car would be ready in late August / early September so I thought I was in good shape for the arrival of the baby and the start of my road trip. Well, Elon’s concept of “2 weeks” strikes again.
After no information on a delivery date for weeks, Tesla set an appointment for Monday September 13, which they then cancelled on Sunday and rebooked for Tuesday, which they then cancelled on Monday and rebooked for Friday. Ugh. They told me the car had arrived on a train in Birmingham, but they don’t know exactly when it will then arrive on the transporter in Nashville. With the delays eating into the start of my trip itinerary, on Tuesday I decided to turn my first roadtrip stop at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama into a quick down/up day trip instead, using Jordan’s car.
Marshall Space Flight Center, also known as Rocket City, was founded as a rocket and engine research and development center at the dawn of the American space program. Its first Director was Wernher von Braun, the lead engineer on the German V2 rocket. He and most of his team were extracted by the Allies under Operation Paperclip. Marshall Space Flight Center played a major role in the Apollo and Shuttle programs and continues operations to this day for the International Space Station and the upcoming Senate Launch System, I mean Space Launch System…
Due to the C-thing and being a Tuesday I saw only about 20 visitors in the whole site.
The visitor center was far more than I had imagined, with both a stacked & vertical Apollo rocket, and one in pieces suspended from the ceiling like the one at Kennedy Space Center. Also an A-12 – the cousin of the SR-71, a Shuttle External Tank and SRBs, several Space Station training modules and historic space articles like Apollo first-stage F-1 engines and the actual Apollo 16 Command Module.
The highlight for me was the planetarium, which uses five 8K projectors to make a seamless video presentation across the massive dome. One other old space geek and I had the entire Noon show at the planetarium to ourselves. The presenter, called Emma, was a recent physics grad and she wants to move on to further study in planetary science. The program for our session was Mars, her favourite planet, and she drove the entire presentation with a tablet and an Xbox controller! The imagery of Mars’ mountains, valleys, craters and ancient river deltas was stunning, especially the Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) sequence of the Perseverance rover, also known as the “7 Minutes of Terror.” Seeing it on that scale felt like we were riding the rover all the way to the surface.
I also saw an IMAX movie of life aboard the International Space Station and had a 3G centrifuge ride all to myself.
If you’re nearby, it’s well worth the visit for kids of all ages. Two thumbs up.
Next up: The Tesla Arrives!
