Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (Follow Florida State Road 405 until it dead ends) This busy tourist attraction offers museums, movies, a rocket garden and bus tours of important shuttle preparation and launch facilities. This is an official Federal site - however, the visitor complex is run by contractors for a profit, so prices are comparable to private tourist attractions, not a typical national park. Basic admission (a 2 day pass) includes an excellent bus tour, the museums and the IMAX movies. Additional special tours or programs should be booked in advance since they sell out quickly. NOTE: this facility may *sometimes* be closed on shuttle launch days!
Shuttle Launches - passes to bring your car to sites "close" to the shuttle can be purchased through the KSC Visitor Complex . Keep in mind that for safety reasons, the closest approach available is at least 4 miles away, and often much further (7 miles, 10 miles, etc.) Very few viewing sites offer a glimpse of the shuttle on the pad before launch - in which case, it really doesn't matter where in Brevard county you are. You will definitely see its blazing engines launch it up into the sky, and (seconds later, depending on the distance) hear the booming noise as it rattles your windows. On a clear day, a shuttle launch can sometimes be seen from Orlando! Most people with a launch pass arrive many hours early to choose the best location in their assigned area, and the gridlock getting out (everyone leaving at once) will take at least an hour. Additionally, launches are subject to cancellation for weather or a problem in any of the billions of parts that go into a vehicle, so a launch date can never be considered firm.
At Kennedy Space Center NASA also has their own Industrial Railroad with 3 EMD SW 1500's with
60 freight cars to move fuel for solid rocket boosters. Heavy-duty freight cars are specially built to move Military Equipment , Rocket equipment , and space mission equipment.
Patrick Air Force Base - due to security this unique national treasure is usually closed to the public, however a free bus tour is offered once a month by reservation only. Call 494-5945, 494-5949 or 494-5933 for reservations and more information. However, most of these unique Air Force sites, including older manned and unmanned launch pads, the newer unmanned vehicle launch pads and the intimate Air Force Museum, can also be seen from a fee-based special KSC bus tour of Cape Canaveral.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cape Canaveral
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cape Canaveral - updated May 2024
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Cape Canaveral Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
