Having 3 weeks in Florida, we thought we had all the time in the world to cover every place we wanted to see. In reality, we struggled, and missed out on a lot of places.
One place we didn’t miss though was the Kennedy Space Center. Located on the AtlanticCoast on Merritt Island, it took about an hour to reach in our 12 seater minibus from Kissimmee along the Beeline Expressway. The Space Center is well signposted, and you shouldn’t have any problem finding it.
The Space Center is set in a rural area, and we played spot the alligator with the kids as they were getting bored. The alligators can be seen in the water at the side of the road as you drive on the Island.
Parking was free, and spaces plentiful, although we did pick the last week in December to visit. The tickets cost us $27 for the adults, and $18 for the children, but we bought them from one of the discount ticket web sites. Normal admission prices are $30 for adults, and $20 for children aged 3-11. For maximum admission, the cost goes up to $37 and $27. With the exchange rate we got, this worked out at about £18 for a standard adult ticket, but remember to add your tax – the Americans don’t add tax to anything until you come to pay!!
Lunch with an astronaut can be booked for another $19.99 for adults and $12.99 for children.
As we had pre-booked tickets, so we just went straight past the ticket booth queues, and were held up only
to have our bags checked, and wander through a metal detector. We even had to turn on our cameras to show them that the cameras were real I assume, and not hiding anything within. Security is tight, and has to be so. Kennedy Space Centre is a working government facility.
We didn’t know anything about the Space Center when we arrived, and I hadn’t researched it, so the first thing we did was head for the busses to go on a tour.
We boarded one of the big coaches, naively thinking we were going on some sort of guided tour around the base, with a view to arriving back at the centre in about ½ hour. How wrong was I?
What we had done was jumped on the KSC Tour, lasting about 4 hours! First stop was the 60-foot-tall Launch Complex 39 Observation Gantry. The ride there took a while, and there was a video commentary which was interrupted occasionally by the driver to tell you about places we were passing.
As we disembarked, we headed for the gantry. There is a lift available for those who should need it, and also steps climbing to each platform. From the top, there is a 360 degree view of the 2 shuttle launch pads, the crawler transporter and the launch control centre and the enormous vehicle assembly building. It’s the sort of view you could look at all day, with a flat plain between you and the sites, it was amazing. This is about as close as you will get to a launch pad. As you come down to the lower platforms, there is a shuttle engine mounted in the centre.
We were really lucky the day we went. There was a booster retrieval ship coming in. It is amazing how slowly these things move.
Once you’ve taken in the views, there is a little café selling a limited selection of food and drink, but be warned, they really cash in on the fact that you are miles from anywhere.
After this we went into the theatre presentation which gives you a behind the scenes look at what it takes to launch a Space Shuttle. Afterwards, you come out into an interactive area, with models of the Space Shuttle on its launch pad, and a short video presentation.
Having had enough, we headed back to the bus. Next stop Apollo/Saturn V center. This was quite bizarre. The bus dropped us off outside a building with closed doors, and left. There we waited for the doors to open. We walked into another presentation. The Apollo/Saturn V Center is a tribute to the Apollo Astronauts, and coming out of the presentation, it takes you into a massive hall, where a real Saturn V rocket is mounted above you. A fitting tribute. This really brings home the sheer scale of these massive beasts.
In another presentation, you will get to see the actual control centre where the mission was launched from, and feel the windows rattle as a virtual take off happens in front of your eyes, giving you a feel for the tension just before lift off.
Within this hall is a café, a piece of moon rock you can touch (about the size of a penny – bit of a disappointment), the capsule the astronauts used to return to earth in, and there is another presentation, this time with a difference. By this point, I felt like all the presentations were blurring into one, and some of the information was repeated, but out of all the presentations, this was the best, with actual moon buggy etc lit up when appropriate to the story rather than just a piece of film.
We did have some lunch in the café here, and although it was priced over the odds, I wouldn’t say it was any worse than any of the theme parks, and the food was OK. The plastic cups they serve your soft drinks in are yours to keep as a souvenir.
We were here for quite some time, and I felt the day was almost over, so we headed back to the bus once more.
Last stop, the Visitor Center.
This is where we came in. Within the complex itself, there is a lot to do, and I don’t think we even broke the ice here.
Early Space Exploration is a museum type exhibit, which we didn’t manage to see, but to be honest, I’d pretty much had my fill at this point, due to all the shows/presentations.
The Rocket Garden is amazing, and you can see Titan, Atlas and Redstone, and even climb onboard Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. My husband deduced that he is too tall to be an astronaut.
The Space Walk of Honour was another area we missed due to lack of time. It is basically as walk around a lake with recognition given to supporters and pioneers of the US space program.
The Astronaut Memorial is a huge mirrored monument to those who died in the name of space exploration.
There are 2 IMAX theatres, and details of these shows can be found on the web site. This is something else we didn’t get to see.
Exploration in the new millennium is an area where you can learn what is planned for future space travel, and what they planned with regards to Mars.
Astronaut Encounter is an area where you can meet a real astronaut. There is a daily briefing, and then you can have your photo taken with them. The kids had their photo taken with Sam Gemar.
Mad Mission to Mars is another thing we missed. This is a show which puts the audience in the position of astronaut trainees. With 3D animation, artificial winds, and water effects, it takes you on a journey through space.
Robot Scouts is another show where the Robots talk to each other, and I wasn’t too impressed with this. It is basically the probes talking about their interplanetary adventures.
The NASA store is the largest in the world for NASA memorabilia, and I could see why. Part of the reason why we didn’t see everything was the amount of time everyone took in the shop. Pin badges, sweatshirts, light up necklaces, freeze driedspace food (ice cream in our case) and other gifts were carefully chosen to take home. Last but not least is the Space Shuttle Plaza. Here is a full sized Space Shuttle Explorer replica. You can go into the shuttle and see inside the living areas which are extremely cramped. Also in the same area is the huge fuel tank and rocket boosters used to launch the shuttle. Although we missed several areas in the Visitor Complex, I don’t think we’ll be going back. I was REALLY fed up by about 4.30pm, and felt that a lot of the shows repeated themselves.
The children were not kept entertained enough, and at 9 and 5, maybe they were a little young for this sort of attraction.
Well, having reviewed the centre, and gone along there with an open mind, I have to say that they haven’t fully convinced me it is all real. The replica of the shuttle looked to me like it would have fallen apart coming back through the atmosphere, and I cannot see how those suits the astronauts wear can possibly protect them from the radiation. Hmmm……I’m still sceptical.
Kennedy Space Centre is open all year round except for Christmas Day, and also certain launch days (so check the internet before you leave home!)
Pictures of Cap Canaveral - Kennedy Space Centre (Florida)
Great review! My sister leaves in Tampa - Florida and when I'll go there I will definitely go to KSC, but after reading this, I'm quite sure I'm going for more than one day...
João Tiago
gibbsy 18.02.2005 22:56
I can't think of anything you've missed out. I loved KSC.
Lancashire_Angel 17.02.2005 19:44
Wow what an amazing day out. My fiance is fascinated by space travel he would love to get inside one of the shuttles! L.A.xxx
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Advantages: entertaining day out, interesting, playgrounds to keep children entertained, plenty of restaurants and places to buy a drink, spread out, different museums on different things to do with space, reasonable entrance fee Disadvantages: none
Advantages: entertaining day out, interesting, playgrounds to keep children entertained, plenty of restaurants and places to buy a drink, spread out, different museums on different things to do with space, reasonable entrance fee Disadvantages: none
Feb 2nd, 2005
exceptional by (15%):
very helpful by (85%):
