Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex
History
The complex had its beginning in 1963 when NASA Administrator James Webb established self-guided tours where the public could drive along a predetermined route through the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and a small trailer containing simple displays on card tables. An estimated 100,000 visitors went through that first year.
As the American space program's popularity grew with the Mercury Program and Alan Shepard's historic launch, large numbers of press and public flocked to the Cape Canaveral area to get a close up view. Webb was urged by U.S. Rep. Olin Teague of Texas to create a visitors' program. By 1964, more than 250,000 self-guided car tours, permitted between 1 and 4 pm. ET on Sundays, were seen at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
In 1965, KSC Director Kurt H. Debus was authorized to spend $2 million on a full-scale visitor center, covering 42 acres. Spaceport USA, as it was soon titled, hosted 500,000 visitors in 1967, its first year, and one million by 1969. Ten-thousand visitors toured the center on December 24, 1968, following the Apollo 8 orbit of the Moon.
Beginning July 22, 1966, public tours were offered on 40-passenger buses. Operated by TWA, a 1.5-hour tour that included the Vehicle Assembly Building and a 3-hour tour including launch facilities were available. Tickets ranged from $0.50 for children 12 and under to $2.50 for adults for the longer tour. More than 1,500 people toured that first day and additional busses were quickly added to the fleet of former Greyhound buses. TWA continued operating tours through at least the bicentennial celebrations in 1976.
As NASA neared the Moon, popularity grew. By 1969, the visitor center was the second most visited Florida attraction, behind Tampa's Busch Gardens. Even during the gap between the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, attendance remained at over one million guests and it ranked as the fifth most popular tourist attraction in Florida.
When nearby Walt Disney World opened in 1971, visitor center attendance increased by 30%, but the public was often disappointed by the comparative lack of polish at KSC's tourist facilities. Existing displays were largely made up of trade show exhibits donated by NASA contractors. Later that year, a $2.3 million upgrade of the visitor complex began with added focus on the benefits of space exploration along with the existing focus on human space exploration.
In 1995, Delaware North Companies was selected to operate the visitor center. Between 1995 and 2007, the visitors center went through many changes, including the improvement of restaurants, retail shops, buses, and new exhibits. It is also when the visitor complex got its current name, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Since then, the facility has been entirely self-supporting and receives no taxpayer or government funding. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex was voted the 8th best museum in the United States by Trip Advisor in 2016. The Visitor Complex has had a visitation increase in the 2010's, in part due to the addition of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on display, the decreasing popularity of nearby SeaWorld due to changing attitudes to welfare of animals in captivity as KSC was considered an alternative, and the increasing interest in STEM fields for children. NASA renewed the contract with Delaware North Companies through 2028.
Attractions
Included in the base admission is tour-bus transportation to Launch Complex 39 and the surrounding KSC property, and the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Previously, it used to include admission to the Astronaut Hall of Fame, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the west. That building is now closed and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame resides in a new exhibit at the visitor complex, Heroes & Legends.
The Apollo/Saturn V Center, located 6 miles (9.7 km) north inside NASA's gates, is a large museum built around its centerpiece exhibit, a restored Saturn V launch vehicle, and features other space related exhibits, including an Apollo capsule. Two theaters allow the visitor to relive parts of the Apollo program. One simulates the environment inside an Apollo firing room during an Apollo launch, and another simulates the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The tour formerly included the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) where modules for the International Space Station were tested.
The Visitor Complex includes two facilities run by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. The most visible of these is the Space Mirror Memorial, also known as the Astronaut Memorial, a huge black granite mirror through-engraved with the names of all astronauts who died in the line of duty. Elsewhere on the Visitor Complex grounds is the foundation's Center for Space Education, which includes a resource center for teachers, among other facilities; and the Kurt Debus Conference Center.
Heroes & Legends, which replaced the previous Early Space Exploration exhibit, houses the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and several displays of artifacts. Among them is the Gemini 9A spacecraft, as well as a recreation of the Mercury Control Center using consoles and furniture relocated from the original building at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. These were previously housed in the Mercury Mission Control facility, which was on the National Register of Historic Places, but it was demolished in May 2010 due to concerns about asbestos and the estimated $5-million cost to renovate the building after 40 years of exposure to salt air.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
In 2010, the center announced a US$100 million plan to house a retired Space Shuttle orbiter in a 10-story 64,000 sq ft (5,900 m) facility. On April 12, 2011, the 30th anniversary of the launch of STS-1, NASA announced that Space Shuttle Atlantis would be provided to the visitors center for display after its last flight on STS-135 and subsequent decommissioning. The exhibit officially opened on June 29, 2013, offering a nearly 360° view of the shuttle. Atlantis is positioned at a 43.21° angle with the payload bay doors open; a view only previously seen in space.
The exhibit also includes a life sized replica of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Shuttle program's astrovan, Dr. Maxime Faget's Shuttle prototype from 1969, a large-scale slide mimicking the 22° slope of a Space Shuttle when landing, numerous astronaut training and Shuttle simulators, and other displays about life in space. On the ground level is the "Forever Remembered" exhibit, commemorating the 14 astronauts lost in both Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia disasters. "Forever Remembered" includes personal artifacts from the astronauts, two recovered pieces of the Shuttles, footage of the physical and emotional recovery, and the return to flight.
This exhibit replaced the Space Shuttle Explorer which was a full-scale, high-fidelity replica of the Space Shuttle which visitors were able to board. Explorer was removed from the KSC Visitor Center on December 11, 2011, and relocated to the Vehicle Assembly Building's turn basin dock adjacent to the Launch Complex 39 Press Site. The vehicle remained at the turn basin until 2012, when it was moved to the Space Center Houston.
Shuttle Launch Experience
The Shuttle Launch Experience, designed by Bob Rogers and the design team BRC Imagination Arts, opened May 25, 2007. The attraction puts guests through a simulated Shuttle launch. Delaware North Companies invested six years and US$60 million into the attraction. Astronauts, NASA experts and attraction-industry leaders were consulted during development. The attraction is housed in a 44,000 sq ft (4,100 m) building that holds four simulators, each accommodating 44 people. Former Shuttle commander and then NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden narrates the simulation and hosts the prerecorded pre-show. In the attraction's early years, guests would enter from the outside and exit into a gift shop before heading back out to the Visitor Complex. In 2013, however, the attraction was later made part of the exhibit for the Space Shuttle Atlantis, with the former gift shop space being used for several simulators that allowed guests to try their hand at landing and docking the Space Shuttle.
Heroes & Legends
The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame is now located in Heroes & Legends, which replaced the previous Early Space Exploration exhibit inside the visitor complex's main entrance. The US$20 million exhibit, which opened in 2016, focuses on America's first astronauts and nine characteristics of a hero. Each characteristic features astronaut artifacts and multimedia relevant to that characteristic. Key artifacts include the 1966 Gemini 9A capsule flown by Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan, the original NASA emblem from the Mercury Control Center (1959), the control center from Project Mercury (remaining from Early Space Exploration), Mercury Redstone rocket MR-6 (likely intended for Deke Slayton), and Wally Schirra's 1962 Sigma 7 capsule. There are also artifacts from specific astronauts, such as Gus Grissom's suborbital flight suit from July 21, 1961.
Heroes & Legends also holds the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, displaying the inducted men and women. In the center of the hall is an interactive kiosk with an inductee database, a mission index, and a virtual photo opportunity with the Mercury 7 astronauts.
The Boeing company is the title sponsor of Heroes & Legends, which marked the first time the visitor complex entered an agreement with a corporate sponsor in more than 50 years.
U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located inside the Heroes & Legends building, is included with visitor complex daily admission. The Hall of Fame was previously owned and operated by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, but was purchased at auction by Delaware North Park Services in September 2002 on behalf of NASA. The building was renamed the ATX Center and houses educational programs including Camp Kennedy Space Center and the Astronaut Training Experience.
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