For anyone who is fascinated by space exploration, a visit to the Kennedy Space Center is a bucket list destination. Since December 1968, the KSC has been NASA’s primary spaceflight launch center. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from here.
The 144,000-square-mile Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is located at Cape Canaveral on Florida’s “Space Coast”, halfway on the state’s Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Miami, and 35 miles east of Orlando.
Background
The Center is named after President John F. Kennedy, who pledged the United States to “run to the moon” in 1962:
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are difficult, because that objective will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and abilities, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are not willing to postpone and another that we intend to win.
By 1969, the lunar race was over, but space exploration continues at the Kennedy Space Center
Family visits
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers many exhibits and experiences, including a rocket garden, a children’s play space, two IMAX theaters, the Astronaut Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Monument, and multiple cafes, shops. of gifts and much more. The most recent exhibition, “Heroes and Legends,” opened in 2016 and is dedicated to early space programs.
In other words, set aside a good time to explore. You can also take a bus tour through restricted areas used by NASA for space launches. You could easily spend a day here and still not see everything.
You can also buy VIP experiences like Fly With An Astronaut, special interest tours or Cosmic Quest. If you plan to take advantage of these options, consider a multi-day ticket or annual pass to experience more than one tour.
The Kennedy Space Center is fully geared towards family visits and is intended to excite and inspire children with the history of the space program and vision for space exploration.
Reflexes
A visit to the Kennedy Space Center has several aspects:
- A chance to see the real-life location where the Apollo moon missions were launched, and where space shuttles and other missions are launched today
- An excellent science museum experience
- VIP experiences like Flying with an Astronaut, where you can board the Shuttle Launch Experience and discover what it feels like to launch into space on a shuttle traveling at 17,500 mph, with a veteran NASA astronaut by your side
- Cosmic Quest is a live game experience that lets you discover what it’s like to launch a rocket, redirect an asteroid, build a Martian habitat, and conduct science experiments aboard the International Space Station.
Tips for visiting
Allow a full day to visit. Most of your time will be spent on a 2 1/2 hour guided bus tour of restricted areas that will take you past two giant launch pads; the vehicle assembly building, the largest building in the world; the 3-1 / 2-mile crushed rock crawlerway along which the space shuttle is transported to the launch pad; the gigantic “trackers” that make the transport.
Buses run every 15 minutes from the Visitor Complex, the entry point to the KSC. The tour includes a stop at the Launch Complex 30 Observation Gantry and the Apollo / Saturn V Center.
You’ll want to get off the bus and spend a few hours at the Apollo / Saturn V Center, which has a cafe, one of several on-site restaurants. There is a fully restored 363 foot Saturn moon rocket.
Also in the Apollo / Saturn V Center are the Lunar Surface Theater and Firing Room Theater, bringing to life dramatic milestones in the Apollo moon landing series.
Meanwhile, in the visitor complex itself, you will find:
- Two I-Max theaters
- Children’s play dome
- A replica of a NASA space shuttle that can roam
- Programs like Flying with an Astronaut, where families can discover what it feels like to launch into space.
- Giant gift shop, with space Lego, K’nex, and much, much more
- Rocket garden
Edited by Suzanne Rowan Kelleher
