Visiting The Kennedy Space Center

For space nerds like myself, there are few places in the world more legendary than NASA's Kennedy Space Center . Sitting on the east coast of Florida it has been the site of some of the most famous and important space launches in history. From the earliest days of the US space program, to Apollo 11, to the Space Shuttle, and now to many SpaceX and Blue Origin launches, its place in the history of space exploration is secured.

And wonderfully, you can visit. The aptly named Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is a full museum, with exhibits including a decommissioned Saturn V rocket, tons of memorabilia, and an actual Space Shuttle orbiter. On a recent road trip, I finally visited after wanting to for years. Here's what it's like.

Gateway to Space

Given Florida's pancake-esque geography, there's not much to see on the approach to the center. Lots of straight roads and some swamps. Once you enter the parking area, it's hard to mistake where you are. The Rocket Garden has most of the rockets that carried men and satellites into space, including Redstone, Titan II, and a Saturn IB, which would tower over the others if it weren't on its side. There are mockups of the Mercury and Gemini capsules you can sit in for photos, though keep in mind that being Florida, these are often wet. There's one for the Apollo capsule as well, but it was cordoned off during my visit.

There are a few choices what to do next. The Gateway building has prototypes of several modern space capsules, multiple interactive exhibits, and hanging from the ceiling, one of the actual boosters from the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. From here my friend and I decided to go directly to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. This is only accessible by bus, which runs regularly. On the drive you pass the massive Vehicle Assembly Building where the Shuttle was and SLS is readied for launch. If you're lucky, you can spot the crawler-transporter nearby.

When you first enter the Apollo/Saturn V Center building, a short video presentation talks about what launches were like at the height of the space program. This is aided visually by the actual consoles used in the Apollo 8 launch. The "windows" above where you're sitting even change color as the "launch" happens.

Then the doors open and you're greeted by the business end of a Saturn V rocket. Each stage is separated slightly so you can fully see each section. At the far end, an actual (unused, obviously) Lunar Module is quite a juxtaposition.

There's also an unused Command and Service Module and nearby, behind glass, is the actual Command Module from Apollo 14, Kitty Hawk. There's a lot more here as well, including actual suits and gear from various missions.

In what I think might be the coolest part of this entire building is being able to touch one of the most expensive objects on Earth: an actual moon rock.

From here my friend and I headed back to the main part of the museum, the bus depositing us in front of the Atlantis exhibit building. Even if you weren't sure what the building was, any space fan could guess. Outside is the Shuttle Stack, the iconic orange external fuel tank and two white solid rocket boosters. All that's missing is the Orbiter. Hmmm, I wonder where it is.

After a short presentation and an excellent reveal I won't spoil, you're greeted by the nose of Atlantis. This was the only remaining Shuttle Orbiter I hadn't seen in person (I've even seen a Buran !). It looks great, canted over like it's flying and so you can see into the bay. The other Orbiters are level or, soon anyway, vertical . A cockpit mockup is nearby, as are various stories and history of the Shuttle program. A full-size replica of the Hubble Space Telescope hangs here as well.

Below is the entrance to the Shuttle Launch Experience. This motion simulator ride is very Star Tours in design, but different in execution. It has what seems to be a far greater range of motion, making for a more energetic and interesting ride. Probably my favorite Star Tours clone.

Depending on when you visit, what ticket you get, and the age/interest of your group, there are a few other things you can do. This includes an IMAX theater and lunch with an astronaut.

A exclusive tour

Last year my dad (without me I grumpily add) was able to get a visit to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum . This is nearby, but separate, from the Kennedy Space Center. It requires a guided tour set up in advance. A friend of his has a family member that works for Blue Origin, so he got to see a few things not typically on a standard tour.

As implied by the name, this is far more of a museum than the Kennedy Visitor Center. There are many more launch complexes at Kennedy and Cape Canaveral than are typically used now, many still have the buildings from when they were in use, typically in the '60's.

Others are leased out to private rocket launch companies. The larger of these, like SpaceX and Blue Origin, you've likely heard of. Others are smaller and/or newer.

Other launch pads likely won't be used again, like Launch Complex 34, the site of the Apollo 1 fire.

Those interested in US space history should definitely check out the Cape Canaveral museum tour.

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I only had two mild complaints about my visit to Kennedy. The first is the food. I ate at the Moon Rock Cafe in the Apollo/Saturn building, and got an ice cream at the Milky Way Ice Cream Shop. Both were... fine. I wasn't expecting haute cuisine anything, but this is definitely museum food at museum prices. Just something to keep in mind.

The other was the price. At $75 per person, over $86 with taxes and "fees," this is an expensive way to spend most of a day. I think they have the same mindset as Disney, in that there will always be people who want to visit so they can charge whatever they want. And look, I did pay it, so they're right. Oh well.

I'm not sure I'd go back again, though, since I saw all that I wanted to see. They have a prime location for launches, sure, though keep in mind not every viewing location is available for every launch. Some are included in the regular admission price though. Given that there are free places to see one , I'd probably do that if the timing matched up when I was going to be nearby.