Kennedy Space Center Florida

A visit to Kennedy Space Center Florida provides a fascinating insight into NASA and the American space program. The Kennedy Space Center is located on Cape Canaveral Island, off the east coast of Florida. It's approximately 45 mins drive from Orlando, which makes it a great place for a day trip!

On this page you'll find information and photos of all the highlights and things to do at the KSC.

We also have more information about:-

Kennedy Space Center Map - Including KSC address, directions, telephone number and opening hours. We have also compiled a special map of Cape Canaveral Florida and all the major highlights of the Kennedy Space Center.

Kennedy Space Center Tickets - ticket information and discount tickets to KSC.

The Rocket Garden Photo courtesy of R. Lughermo

At Cape Kennedy you'll find there's enough to do to fill a whole day or more! This really is a huge site spread over an area 4 times the size of Manhattan.

The Kennedy Space Center Florida showcases many of the greatest shuttles and rockets of our time. Above you'll see the 'Rocket Garden' with many famous rockets on display such as the Redstone, Atlas and Titan. You'll be amazed at how big they are in real life!

Saturn V Rocket Photo courtesy of Bill Lile

Above is a Apollo Saturn V rocket - the real thing! In this huge facility you can see up-close the very rockets that launched man into space and even on to the surface of the moon.

Shuttle Launch Pad viewed from the observation tower Photo courtesy of Katie & Ian

There are many different launch pads dotted along the coast of Cape Canaveral.

You can get a bird's-eye-view of two of the launch pads that are still in use today.

As part of the Space Center Tour (which is included in your admission), you will be able to view lauch pads 39A and 39B.

The photo (left) shows the shuttle launch pad as viewed from the 60 ft high observation tower.

There are special binoculars provided to get a good up-close view.

The massive Vehicle Assembly Building Photo courtesy of MSMail

The photo on the right is the enormous VAB or Vehicle Assembly Building.

This is where NASA engineers put together all the components of a shuttle together ready for launch.

This iconic structure is what many people think of when visiting the Kennedy Space Center Florida. This buiding is one of the largest in the world. It's as high as a 52 storey skyscraper, but it's volume is staggering.

This building also houses many high-tech labs where detailed research is carried out on space missions and launches by NASA staff.

All the different parts are shipped in from New Orleans, LA and they are brought to this building to be assembled.

You will see this building on the Kennedy Space Center Tour and is included in you admission. (Although you won't be able to go inside)

Once a shuttle has been put together ready for launch, it must be carefully moved to the launch pad. Below is a picture of the 'Crawler Transporter Vehicle'.

Here's some facts about this mega mover:-

• Weighs around 6 million pounds or 2,721 tonnes
•  It moves at 1 mile per hour along a long runway leading up to the launch pad.
• It can take 8 hours to transport a shuttle to the launch pad
• The runway is around 6.5km or 4 miles long.
• 131ft long and 113ft wide
• First developed in 1965 and still in use today at Kennedy Space Center Florida

You can often see this vehicle parked along the runway on your KSC Tour.

The Crawler Transporter. A 6 million pound vehicle used to move shuttles to the launch pad Photo courtesy of K. Irwin

....and finally a shuttle is launched!

The launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from launch site 39B in 2006 Photo courtesy of Mocr

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