Kennedy Space Center: Visitor Complex

Titusville, Florida: When most people think of tourist attractions in Central Florida, they immediately think of Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World. But tucked away on the Atlantic Coast is one of the area’s premier sites, the Kennedy Space Center. The Visitor Complex at the center entertains over a million visitor’s a year wanting an inside look at our space program.

Operated by Delaware North Companies, the visitor complex offers museum exhibits, bus tours and interactive experiences. In addition to the complex, they also operate the Astronaut Hall of Fame adjacent to the Space Center.

The complex features many exhibits once you pass through the admission gates. At the visitor’s complex you can visit:

• Astronaut Encounter; get the opportunity to meet an astronaut from past space missions.
• Astronaut Memorial; dedicated in 1991 the reflective wall displays the names of the astronauts that lost their life during the space program.
• Center for Space Education; a learning center for educators and students.
• Children’s Play Dome; a multi-level play structure for the kids.
• Early Space Exploration; takes a look at the early days of the space program, focusing on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. On display are models of the rockets, space suits, authentic Gemini space capsule and more.
• IMAX Theaters; 2 fully functional IMAX theaters featuring in your face films of the space program on a 5 story tall screen with 3-D video graphics. The theaters are currently showing Walking on the Moon 3-D and Space Station 3-D.
• Launch Status; get briefings on upcoming space shuttle missions.
• NASA Central; real time updates from NASA and upcoming space missions.
• Robot Scouts; learn about how the automated robots aid the space program.
• Rocket Garden; a collection of rockets from the space program including the Delta Rocket, Juno Rocket, Mercury Redstone, Mercury Atlas, Saturn and more. There are also command capsule replicas from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs that allow guests to witness how tight the capsules were.
• Space Shuttle Plaza; tour a life-sized replica of the space shuttle. Space Shuttle Explorer allows guests to get an inside look at the flight deck and cargo bays. There is also a fuel cell and dual rocket boosters on display here as well.
• Shuttle Launch Experience; experience the sounds and feels of a shuttle launch. Board the simulator and take a ride to space.

Once you have completed the tour of the visitor complex, its time to board the air conditioned buses to the second half of the tour. The regular admission to the visitor complex also includes three stops on the space center.

Stop one of the tour is the LC-39 Observation Gantry. From the elevated gantry provides a view of both launch pads approximately three miles away. It also provides a view of the Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawler way and the vast wilderness of the space complex.

The second stop on the tour is the Apollo/Saturn V Center. As you enter the center, you will witness the launch of an Saturn V rocket from inside the firing room. Once the rocket is airborne, the doors open and you are inside the center. The center features a full sized Saturn V rocket as well as other items from the Apollo era.

The third and final stop of the tour is the International Space Station Center. Here you can watch a brief film on the history of the space station before heading into the processing facility. From a secure observation platform, guests can overlook the clean room where final processing of the space station components are performed on the final stage before being loaded onto the space shuttle. After leaving the observation window, you can walk through replica sections of the space station already assembled before boarding the bus and heading back to the visitor complex.

In addition to the standard tour, they also offer two behind the scenes tours. Discover KSC: Today and Tomorrow Tour takes guests on a tour of the KSC side of the property. The private tour goes through the industrial area, out to the NASA causeway, past the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launch Control Center, a photo stop near the launch pads and a brief visit to the Shuttle Landing Facility. The highlight of the tour is the photo stop between the launch pads and being within a half mile of the shuttle and the launch pad.

The second tour is the Cape Canaveral: Then and Now Tour. The tour takes guests on an inside look at the Cape side of the complex and focuses on the beginnings of the space program and the unmanned rocket programs. The tour features stops at the Launch Complex 5 and 6 where the start of the space exploration began, Launch Complex 34 where Apollo 1 suffered a fatal fire onboard during a training exercise along drives past several more of the launch sites on the Cape. The tour also includes a stop at the Air Force Space and Missile Museum before returning back to KSC and rejoining the public tour at the Saturn V Center.

Through the informative displays and interactive exhibits, the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex helps bring the space program to life for the average American. As the program continues to evolve throughout the years, the complex will be right there to tell to the story.

For more photos, click on the photo above or visit my Kennedy Space Center photo page.