I first visited the Kennedy Space Center in 2007 and found it so inspiring that I’ve taken every opportunity to return since.

These last sixteen years have seen many twists and turns in human spaceflight.

When I visited KSC in 2011, the space shuttle programme had just finished – with the final mission landing the week before.

The tour bus guides were noticeably upset about the demise of the shuttle and the whole place had a bit of a downbeat feel to it.

It was therefore a joy to return again in 2013 and visit the recently opened Atlantis exhibition – a fantastic celebration of an extraordinary machine that made 33 journeys into space and back over a 26 year period.

Given I am currently on a 7 day road trip around Florida I could not pass up the opportunity to visit KSC again 10 years on.

Wow – what a decade it has been for the evolution of human spaceflight, with the commercial sector rising to NASA’s challenges to provide more cost-effective ways to get beyond Earth’s atmosphere – and back too when required.

It seemed a poignant time to revisit the Saturn V rocket exhibit that is the centrepiece of a building devoted to the Apollo moon missions.

Artemis I completed its second orbit of the moon on the day I headed over to the US and I watched the splashdown live on TV 6 days later on December 11th.

I was also keen to see Atlantis again and it was every bit as good as the first time.