How can I split up a single word

Im wanting to split up a word into its component letters to manipulate the letters individually, basically I want to create an array of letters from a string.

How is this achievable?

VB Code:

Dim s As String = "floccinaucinihilipilifaction"
        Dim letters() As Char = s.ToCharArray
        'Letters is now an array of chars
        'letters(0) = f
        'letters(1) = l
        'etc...