Astronaut Winston Scott Encourages Kids to See a Rocket Launch In Person

Summer Bucket List: Go See a Rocket Launch at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

If you haven’t had a chance to experience a rocket launch in person, this is the summer to make it happen! While we can see the faint glow of a launch from here in Tampa Bay, there is nothing like seeing it up close, especially from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

I took my boys, and it was one of the most memorable experiences for us as a family. We loved it so much that my oldest returned for summer day camp at the Kennedy Space Center.

Related: The Best Places to Watch a Rocket Launch in Florida

But don’t take it from me—how about a real astronaut? We recently met up with astronaut Winston Scott and had the opportunity to sit down with him in the Keynes Room at Oxford Exchange, a new podcast and recording space.

In this snippet from our conversation, we’re talking about the ways you can experience the wonders of space at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex with the kids, and I promise, it is well worth the drive and definitely doable as a day trip.

Did you know?? Winston Scott logged 24 days in space during two missions to space that included three spacewalks totaling more than 19 hours.

TBPM: The Kennedy Space Center is a unique attraction. It’s not a theme park and better than a museum—it’s a pretty incredible place.

WS: The theme that we're using now is “Discover Something Real” because the Kennedy Center Visitor Complex is a place where a person can immerse themselves in the space program, and you really feel it. There's just so much to do and so much to see, it really makes a significant impact on all who visit.

They can not only meet people who've flown in space, but they can also see the real hardware. You can get up close and personal to the Atlantis space shuttle that actually flew in space. And you can also visit the Apollo Saturn V Center.

You stand right underneath the Saturn V rocket. This rocket was a real rocket scheduled to go to the moon before the Apollo program was canceled. You can touch a moon rock. There are so many activities that you can experience.

You immerse yourself in the past, the present, and a little bit of the future of our space program.

TBPM: Tell us about the daily Meet the Astronaut program, which you coordinate.

WS: We have several programs that the astronauts will perform. One is called Astronaut Encounter, and it's in a large auditorium.

The person will give a presentation, and they do Q &A. Then we have a program called “Chat with an Astronaut,” which is kind of like a fireside chat.

It's a small group of people in the audience. You can ask that person anything you ever wanted to ask about flying in space. It is important, especially to young people, because when they meet people who have actually flown in space, it becomes a reality to them.

Imagine a young girl, six or seven years old, meeting a real woman who actually flew in space. Now it's real.

TBPM: Why would you encourage families to go and experience a launch together?

WS: It is so monumental and so influential. Seeing a rocket launch, I think, affects everybody in one way or another. But I think it would have a special impact on young people.

When you're up close and personal to see one, that's a whole different dimension. And when you see a launch that has people on it, that really is the ultimate. It's something everybody in the world will see at least one time.

Again, because it's still a very, very unusual occurrence, and it represents the efforts of so many people who come together to work so hard to make this amazing thing happen.

TBPM: There’s a new attraction opening at the Kennedy Space Center called The Gantry. What can you tell us about it?

WS: Launch Complex 39 is being refurbished into a Gantry. You'll be able to see the launch pads, you'll be able to see the crawler tracks, the equipment, and you'll be able to watch launches from there.

TBPM: So, we have to know…what does it feel like to be weightless in space, especially while on a spacewalk!

WS: Feeling weightless is just so foreign, and there are no words I can say to make you feel it. When you're on a spacewalk, it's just you and your buddy out there.

Nobody can help you. Nobody can go out and get you if something goes wrong. So, the two of you are there to get the job done, but you're also there for mutual support in case something goes wrong.

You've got to really be able to compartmentalize, focus on what you're doing while you're in this absolutely amazing and foreign environment.

Flying in space changes your life perspective. You look back at the Earth from that vantage point and see how small it is, how fragile it looks, because when you're in space, not only do you see the curvature of the Earth, the boundary horizon, but you see out past the Earth.

You can see other planets, other stars, and so on. So you realize the Earth is really a relatively small, finite piece of rock in the universe. It gives you a whole other perspective.

You don't see boundaries from one country to another, one group of people to another, and you see no turmoil. It's very, very peaceful and quiet looking. Really beautiful.

TBPM: For the kids out there who are aspiring to become a part of the space program, what’s your advice?

WS: I think parents ought to encourage all kids, and people of all ages ought to encourage each other to come and do this because it represents the future. The future of humankind is beyond Earth.

Humankind is, if we're going to survive, it’s out past our own solar system, our own universe, but living outside of our Earth. But also, it expands our horizons, it expands our thinking, and it brings us together internationally.

You know, everything we do in space nowadays is international. It broadens us, it helps us grow, it just improves us as individuals in so many ways, and improves us as a human species in so many ways. And it's just downright fun. Watching a rocket launch is fun.

TBPM: What can we as parents teach our children to help them achieve their dreams, even if they don’t want to fly to space?

WS: Resilience is so important, and that's where parents come in. Parents should do what they can to instill that resilience in their children. You teach them from day one to work hard to persevere, and when things don't work out your way, you don't give up.

You get up, and the old saying goes, you get up and you try, try again. I don't use the word fail.

Having a setback is not the end of the world; it's just a stumbling block to overcome.

And every time you overcome a stumbling block, it makes you stronger, it makes you better. In fact, we learn more from our failures or our difficulties than we do from our successes.

TBPM: For kids who are curious, what did you do while in space?

WS: In our shuttle flights, we had numerous experiments that we carried on board with us.

We grew plants in space, for example. And at the same time, scientists were growing the same plant here on Earth. And the idea, obviously, is to compare our plants to the ones grown here on Earth.

We grew crystals in space. We performed a flame propagation experiment.

We took laboratory mice into space with us in a new animal enclosure module. You take care of animals differently in space than you do at home. Oh, different ballgame.

We launched satellites. We retrieved satellites. We performed many, many experiments. That's the whole purpose of going up there, really, to perform experiments.

Now, when I was flying, we were preparing to build an International Space Station. And as the readers will know, the space station has been up there for 25 years now. In those days, we were preparing to build it. So what I personally did was test tools, equipment, and techniques that astronauts would use to actually assemble the Space Station.

TBPM: Let's talk about your journey to becoming an astronaut. You actually started out as a gifted musician!

WS: That's correct. Yeah, my journey is a little bit unusual, but remember, I came along at a time when the space program was very new.

When I was in early elementary school,  it was before the original seven astronauts flew into space, the first book I checked out from the public library was called ‘Project Mercury', and it was about the upcoming Mercury program. It was a prophecy I guess.

TBPM: Even though becoming an astronaut wasn't on the radar, it did sort of set you on the path without you even realizing it.

WS: I think there was a seed already inside of me that directed me towards that book and directed my teachers, because I can remember one of my pivotal teachers was my 5th and 6th grade teacher, Mr. Franklin Clark, who taught advanced Math and English.

I was one of the students who they now call gifted and talented.  Well, I was accelerating math and English back then. Now, schools were segregated in those days. But Mr. Clark was a person who always talked about the future to us.

He would bring bringing newspaper articles about the space program and about Project Mercury about launching in the space and rockets and so on and that just resonated with me but again I didn't think I would do it it's just something that was fascinating to me and I would watch space movies on TV on you know the movies on Saturday like like most kids but yeah I never thought I would do it.

Schools integrated when I went into 10th grade, and I moved over to Giant Coral Gables High School, and Coral Gables High School had an outstanding music program, one of the finest band programs in the country. And the band director was elected to the Bandmasters Hall of Fame, and so on. He was the person who got me into the FSU College of Music as a musician.

TBPM: Your time as a student at Florida State University was pivotal, too, including the years after college. Let's talk about what happened next!

WS: I went to school and started as a music major. But I was always a youngster who was interested in technology and science. There was no guidance in those days. There were no programs to introduce minorities to engineering and so on.

At FSU, I was introduced quite accidentally to engineering. And I began to take engineering, and math, science and engineering courses as an overload to my music. So I would routinely take 18, 19, 21 hours a quarter. We wanted a quarter system because I was taking calculus in addition to music theory.

And then, in order to further my engineering education after graduation, I started thinking about the military because I'd heard the military may send you to school and so on and I thought about maybe going into the military.

The Vietnam War was going on at the time, so a lot of people were ducking and dodging the military, but it felt right to me down inside. So I pursued aviation training and was accepted to U .S. Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School.

And a year and a half later, I was designated a naval aviator and flew for the Navy.

The Navy sent me back to school to finish my undergraduate and master's in engineering. I flew for the Navy some more, then got into research and development, the testing and evaluation side of flying, which ultimately led me to the space program.

So all of that took place of a long period of time, 18 years. It wasn't overnight. But yeah, it's kind of an unusual journey, but I felt it was right for me. I pursued it and lo and behold, I was successful.

TBPM: You almost didn't apply to the space program.

WS: That's another fortuitous occasion. A friend of mine, another naval aviator, we went through training together, and we were at the same point in our careers. He happened to be at our house for dinner one night, and he and I were discussing that we were so senior in our careers, the next place to go was Washington, D.C..

No self-respecting pilot wants to go to Washington D.C., but I made an off-hand remark, I said, you know, I think I'd like to be an astronaut. But, astronauts have Nobel prizes, three or four PhDs, and then they both looked at me, and the way I heard it was, “You really ought to apply.”

They may not have said that exactly, well, that's the way I heard it, “You really ought to apply”.

I tossed and turned all night that night, and the words kept replaying in my mind. I went to work the next day. I talked to my commanding officer. And it just so happens, NASA was accepting applications because they don't accept them every year.

So everything seemed to line up. I decided I would put in the best application I could and see what happens. And lo and behold, a year and a half later, after several thousand people applied, I was one of the ones that was selected.

TBPM: Even though your professional journey took you away from working as a musician, what role do you think music played in your professional success, and what can kids and parents learn from your experience?

WS:  I think music is something that helps in many other disciplines. In fact, I've always felt it to be true, but there are studies now that validate it.

Some of the best medical students have musical training. Some of the best law students have musical training.

When you think about it, it is very disciplined and logical.  While we think of it as emotional and it is expressive, it's also very logical. If you are looking at a piece of music — you've seen how music looks with these symbols on paper, well, the brain sees those and the brain decodes those symbols, and the result is a musical sound.

When you're looking at a mathematical equation, there are a bunch of symbols on there. The brain decodes those symbols, and that mathematical expression tells you something. So the brain functions the same way when you're decoding music or decoding mathematics.

How to See a Rocket Launch at the Kennedy Space Center

Visit the Launches and Events page on kennedyspacecenter.com to check the updated calendar. As of print, there were two crewed launches on schedule with viewing packages available for purchase. Keep in mind that dates and times are subject to change.

• Monday, June 16 at 1:25 pm: United Launch Alliance (ULA) V Kuiper 2
• July (date TBD): NASA’s SpaceX Crew 11: NASA and SpaceX will launch the eleventh crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
• TBD: Axiom Mission 4 (AX-4): Witness liftoff of the fourth commercial crew for Axiom Space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket!
• August (date TBD): Blue Origin New Glenn NG-2

How to view a launch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex:

• Feel the Heat Launch Viewing Package at the Apollo/Saturn V Center: This is the closest you can get to the launch site, at just 3.9 miles away. Tickets are $250.
• Main Visitor Complex: You can watch from the Atlantis North Lawn or the Atlantis South Lot, where they have large screens and bleachers set up for viewing (this is what we did). You will want to purchase your admission ticket for the launch day in advance because launch day tickets do sell out.