PHOTO HUNT: TWISTED

Living on Florida's Space Coast for nearly 20-years has given us the opportunity to view many shuttle launches from KSC and many rocket launches from Cape Canaveral AFS. There were times we were up-close-and-personal, at the KSC Banana River VIP site. Other times we've watched from the beach, from the Indian River, or the dock at our home on Sykes Creek when we lived there. We've seen them at sunrise and sunset, in heat and in cold, daytime and the dark of night. They never fail to amaze. Those of us who live on the Space Coast know the excitement of the space program, NASA and KSC. But we also know it's value, contributions and importance, and hope that NASA will receive sufficient government funding to continue its scientific exploration of our universe.

Above, left: About a year ago, we took my Mom, then 95 years old, to a friends high rise condo on the river -- she saw her first ever shuttle launch. The sight of the TWISTED smoke plume is beautiful as the shuttle leaves earth, the sounds are powerful, depending on wind direction there may be smells of fuel or exhaust, the ground will shudder below your feet.

Above, right: It's always fun to spend a day at KSC with my grand daughter. Top: she is TWISTED inside an old space capsule from the moon launch days, the capsules were small and cramped in those days, allowing no movement and the astronaut would be in some TWISTED position for the entire flight. Bottom: simulated weightlessness, just like the astronauts, and you can TWIST and turn at will.