Merritt Island NWR, Canaveral National Seashore, & Ares 1-X
24 October 2009
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Images from a day trip to Merritt Island to see the Ares 1-X rocket on the pad and the wildlife of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

RIGHT: The first picture of the day, a Cattle Egret atop a car in a supermarket parking lot in Titusville.

BELOW: Various images of Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center where the Ares 1-X rocket waits for launch on its test flight. The former space shuttle pad is dwarfed by the tall rocket that stands 327.24 feet high - almost as tall as the 363 feet tall Saturn V rocket that launched years ago from the same launch pad. Also below are distant views of nearby Pad 39A where space shuttle Atlantis awaits launch to the International Space Station.

BELOW: Looking south at the forbidding security fence cutting across the beach dividing Canaveral National Seashore and the Kennedy Space Center. It's a bit more formidable than it looks for there is a concrete guard tower just out of frame to the right festooned with cameras and other suspicious looking odds-and-ends. ABOVE LEFT: One of the signs warning of dire consequences for crossing the fence.

ABOVE: Looking north along the beach of Canaveral National Seashore. One of the seashore's main attractions is the potential to escape crowds.

LEFT: Surfer at Canaveral National Seashore.

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