About Adrienne
A summer job as a tour guide on the RMS Queen Elizabeth in Ft. Lauderdale Florida, Summer of 1969
On tour at historic launchpad 39A during remoelding in 2015
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Adrienne with college friends in Titusville, Florida at the launch of Apollo 8 on December 21, 1968.
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Adrienne reading Ticket to Space to a class of local elementary school students.
Adrienne Romberger grew up in Florida at the dawn of the Space Race. For her, it was a time of great optimism, creative arts, sports and the beach. From a young age she dreamed of traveling across America, and maybe one day Europe, Africa, or Asia.
During college one of her first jobs was working summers as a tour guide on the newly retired RMS Queen Elizabeth. Someday, she hoped, she’d travel the oceans on such a magnificent ship.
Meanwhile, at that same time period Adrienne drove to Titusville, Florida, to view the first men launch to the moon from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Watching Apollo, 8 and then Apollo 11 liftoff was a sight and sound that still lingers in her memory.
A journalism major, Adrienne’s first full-time employment was a Public Relations writer for a large land developer. As much as she enjoyed writing about different parts of Florida, her love of art led her to being a graphic artist for a popular South Florida society magazine through the 1970s. In that position she was also called on to draw illustrations for various articles as well as layout.
Her career went on hold when she and her husband began to raise a family. Adrienne found herself visiting her two sons’ classes as a “room mother” and was surprised how much she enjoyed being in the classroom. As her sons grew older she returned to college to earn a degree in education.
As a fourth-grade teacher she shared her love of the U.S. Space Program with her students. She organized their yearly field trip to U.S. Space Camp, Florida through the 1990s. Adrienne became very familiar with the Kennedy Space Center on these 3-day junkets. She and the class looked forward to riding simulators, meeting astronauts, and if the timing was right, watching a launch.
Adrienne changed direction to teach a Cambridge University class on the Cold War to high school students during the first decade of the 21st century. It was a big challenge but she embraced that subject because, after all, she had lived through the Cold War!
When Adrienne retired from teaching they moved very near the Kennedy Space Center. She got a part-time job as a tour guide at KSC and enjoyed meeting people from all over the world. She shared her enthusiasm for the U.S. Space Program, met astronauts and watch lots of launches.
Today Adrienne enjoys taking friends and family to the Kennedy Space Center as a visitor herself. She now focuses her time with her husband of 45 years, and her sons’ families (which includes two grandsons).
But Adrienne’s story is not done. She did get to fulfill her dream of travel as she and her husband have visited 47 states and traveled the seas as well. Adrienne drew on her life’s journey to write and illustrate her first book, a childrens’ book called Ticket to Space. The little boy “Rocky” in the story is modeled after her grandsons and their enthusiasm for space. She wrote the book to keep her busy on a long voyage, as they traveled the oceans on a magnificent ship.
- During a roadtrip to the Yukon territory, Canda
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park .jpg)
Hiking The Narrows in Zion National Park with her son.- Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Visiting the Saturn V center that houses a spare Apollo rocket. - Going weightless during a parabolic flight in 2010
- Standing in front of the Syndey Opera House, Australia
Stonehenge, England