2009 Kennedy Space Center Visit

On the left, an old slide taken by my grandparents in early 1965. On the right, the same area today, if not quite the same view. I'm still not convinced that the slide isn't backwards and taken from the coastal side of the towers. The orientation guide here was the equipment on the top of the towers, which is shaped vaguely like a slipper, and is plainly visible in both shots - the problem was, the new shots taken from the coastal side of the towers match up even less well.

On the left, a slide taken by my grandparents in early 1965, on the right the same view in August 2009. In the old image, the mobile service structure for LC-34 is visible in the distance, along with the umbilical tower at one of the LC-37 pads (the skinny reddish mast at the far left of the old image). Interestingly, in the original versions of both pictures, I can tell that the second sign along the road is the same in both pictures, the first sign (with the words "Road Block" on it) might be the same but it's hard to tell, and the flame deflectors are visible in the same parked positions. Even the notch in the edge of the pavement at the corner is the same, and some of the telephone poles may even be originals. What's odd is the sense of depth between the two pictures. There's no mistaking they show the same scene, but the pad looks significantly closer to the camera in my shot than in the old slide - and this is the case for several of these comparisons. Unlike the other comparisons, the slide image is cropped square - this was because the original was rotated by about 3 degrees, which was enough to obscure some of the similarities at first glance.

The top left image is from a slide taken by my grandparents in early 1965. The upper right image is the same view from August 2009. The lower image is what is left of the launch facility, hidden now by the foliage on the righthand side of the access road -- the mound on the left is the launch control blockhouse, and straight ahead is the rocket launch mount and the foundation for the red launch umbilical tower seen in the older image. The tower itself is I think the one shown in other images in my KSC tour set, laid out in segments in a parking lot at the nearby rocket park.