NASA was established in 1958 and three years later launched the first American into space. Freedom 7 launched on May 5, 1961 with astronaut Alan B. Shepard on board. When NASA engineered the Saturn V vehicle it needed a new space complex to launch, and thus the Kennedy Space Center was born in 1961.
Today Kennedy Space Center is the launch site of the Space Shuttle program. This working facility is available for tours to the general public via a cooperation with the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Visitors are provided an exhilarating and educational experience of the space program. Guests will enjoy the Rocket Garden, Saturn V building, a birds eye view of the Shuttle launch pads, a look at the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, a replica of the Space Shuttle, and much more! Don't miss the daily Astronaut Encounter, where you can talk to or even dine with a real astronaut!
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the only place in the world where guests can touch a piece of the moon and a piece of Mars! It's also the only place in the world where guests can dine next to a moon rock at the Apollo/Saturn V Center's Moon Rock Café. The Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center is one of the world's largest buildings by volume, and one of the world's largest enclosed structures. The American flag on the VAB is 209 x 110 feet. Each star is more than six feet in diameter and each stripe is nine feet wide. While at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex see fabulous films at the world's only back-to-back IMAX theaters. The Visitor Complex's Early Space Exploration exhibit is home to the original Mercury Mission Control consoles used to launch Alan Shepard, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and John Glenn, among others, into space.
The Kennedy Space Center is located within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which comprises 140,000 acres. Space Center operations encompass only 6,000 acres, with the remainder being entirely wildlife habitat. The Wildlife Refuge is home to more than 500 species of animals and birds, including alligators, bobcat, dolphins, otter, sea turtles and pelicans. It shelters 21 federal- and state-listed endangered and threatened species, including manatees and bald eagles. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is open every day of the year (except Christmas Day and certain launch days) from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The last Kennedy Space Center tour departs 2:15 p.m.
For further information please call (321) 452-2121. The Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex is within 10 miles of the Ramada Inn & Suites Kennedy Space Center Hotel!
Photos and text material credited to:
Kennedy Space Center/Delaware North Parks Services
Mark Wade/Astronautix.com
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