outta this world

Literally!  My papa works at ATK where the rocket boosters are make for the space shuttle.  On Saturday they had a "once in a lifetime" open house and I just couldn't turn down the opportunity to spend time with my dad and sister so I ditched Coby {he had class :( } and drove up north for the afternoon.

that's my papa and cute little sister and behind them are the transporters that  are used to move pieces of the rocket booster.  That is HALF of the transporter for ONE segment of rocket booster...you do the  math.  These things are HUGE!

Legit moon rock.  I know, you're jealous of my ridiculous photography skills...

ATK has their own fire department, their a pretty big deal.  I'm pretty sure that everything up there revolves around avoiding explosions/taking care of explosions once they've occurred, which may be a good idea considering the amount of explosives they work with.

This is the control room where they run the test launches.  Let me tell you, those rocket boosters have some umph and they take every precaution to prevent something bad happening.  This room is underground and has like two foot thick cement walls.  There was also a large red abort button in the center of the control panel.  NBD.

And this, folks, this is a rocket booster.  It's flippin HUGE!  It hold something like 180 tons of explosives or some crazy amount like that{my dad told me but I can't remember}.

See those white deals with flames?  Rocket booster.  It makes me pretty proud that my papa has helped people go into space for the last 20+ years.  he's a pretty awesome dad and I'm so glad I got to spend the day with him and see a little more of what he does.  Thanks Dad!