The Then and Now Tour crossed back into the Kennedy Space Centre and took us to the Launch Complex 39A that had been used a few days before to launch Atlantis on the Hubble Servicing Mission.

Unfortunately there was nowhere we could get off the tour bus near LC39A so the photographs have a tint caused by the bus windows.

The first photograph is of the Mobile Launch Platform, Tower and Rotating Service Structure incorporating the Payload Changeout Room

The next two photographs show the Crawler-Transporter ready to move the Mobile Launch Platform back to the Vertical Assembly Building for refurbishment and reuse by a new Space Shuttle stack.  The Crawler-Transporter has to be seen to be believed.

As we headed back towards the Visitors Centre we came as close to LC39B as we were allowed given it was a “live” site with Endeavour ready to be launched on a rescue mission should Atlantis suffer problems.

To my surprise (I obviously hadn’t read the small print) we were not taken directly back to the Visitors Centre but rather to the Apollo/Saturn V Centre which has been built to protect the Saturn 5 from the corrosive sea air.  You can get a shuttle bus back to the Visitors Centre.

More about the Apollo/Saturn V Centre on the next page.