After the French immersion weekend near Atlanta, we drove down to Orlando for the rest of my spring break.

While in Florida, I had the chance to watch Artemis II launch! We were about to have dinner at a restaurant in Orlando, and everyone paused their meals to gather outside.  We had our NASA countdowns on our phones and were all watching the sky for the rocket. Unfortunately, it was fairly cloudy the day of launch, but we were still able to see the rocket going in and out of the clouds. 

The day after Artemis II launched, we visited Kennedy Space Center! The huge countdown clocks were still up, only this time they were counting up: the mission time elapsed since launch. 

The space center was incredibly well done. Since it’s NASA, they had many artifacts from previous missions, including the Atlantis Shuttle, which went to space 33 times between 1985 and 2011. 

There was a launch sequence simulator that was a little bumpy but felt oddly similar to a Disney ride, which I really enjoyed. The experience was narrated by STS (Space Transportation System, also known as the shuttle missions) astronaut Charlie Bolden, who flew four shuttle missions and was a former NASA administrator. 

Another section of the center included an Apollo 8 firing room exhibit. They were the actual panels from the day of launch! They lit up as the rocket began its last phases of launch prep, which made for a very immersive experience. 

Overall, I would highly recommend visiting the Kennedy Space Center!  And ending the day with some traditional freeze-dried ice cream…or Space Dots.

As soon as we left the space center, I began following the NASA page for updates on Artemis II. Every day I shared mission updates with my friends and family.  And I even watched the mission splashdown on my laptop!

Some of my favorite moments from the Artemis II mission were the beautiful photos taken of Earthrises and Earthsets (what our planet looks like from the moon as it orbits the earth) by the mission crew (this specific photo is an Earthset): 

Another personal favorite image of mine was this selfie of the astronauts protecting their vision with eclipse glasses during the solar eclipse they viewed en route to the moon: 

I loved visiting the space center so much, and it renewed my interest in space–and the NASA missions! Hopefully, I’ll be able to see many more launches in my young adulthood, and maybe even witness a launch to Mars.