In this silent home movie from June 1981, the Southerlands family visits John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The majority of the footage captures the facility’s Rocket Garden: an outdoor display of historic missiles, rockets, and launch vehicles used to propel astronauts or satellites into space. The first five rockets seen mounted upright are—from left to right—the Gemini-Titan II, Atlas-Agena, Mercury-Redstone, Thor-Delta, and Juno II. The Southerlands then see a Saturn IB launch vehicle, mounted on its side. (The grouping of upright rockets appear again at 00:17, during which the Mercury-Atlas and Juno I, second and third from the left, can also be seen.) Only the Gemini-Titan II, Mercury-Redstone, Mercury-Atlas, and Saturn IB were used by NASA for manned space missions. Per their names, the Titan II launched Gemini flights while the Redstone and Atlas rockets powered those related to Project Mercury. The Saturn IB rocket, on the other hand, was used for Apollo 7 as well as several missions for the Apollo Applications Program. After Kennedy Space Center, the Southerlands explore Florida’s tropical attractions, hitting the beach and riding in a glass-bottomed boat.

TFC 1980s 1980’s home movie Florida NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration space outer space space travel

space flight space program aerospace science John F. Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center KSC Rocket Garden travel trip

vacation tourism tourist attraction tourist spot family trip family vacation Spaceport USA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex display Saturn IB

Titan II Gemini-Titan II launch vehicle rocket Titan launch vehicle Saturn IB launch vehicle Mercury Redstone launch vehicle Mercury-Redstone Mercury-Atlas Atlas-Agena

Thor-Delta Juno I Juno II beach boat fish alligator monkey alpaca animal

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