Our Adventure to Kennedy Space Center

Hello Friends:

I would like to share with you all our recent vacation adventure to the Kennedy Space Center. I won't share all of the pictures I took, just some of my personal favorites.

 In case you aren't familiar with Florida, Cape Canaveral is located on the East Coast of the state on the beach about an hour away from Orlando. It is a primary cruise port for ships sailing out of Florida. Cape Canaveral/Merritt Island is also known for the Kennedy Space Center. 

This was our first visit to Kennedy Space Center. It was an amazing experience for us. Disney and Universal Studios are fun don't get me wrong, but if you are ever in Florida, you must take a day to visit the Kennedy Space Center. It is a very educational place to visit. I personally left there with a deeper appreciation of what NASA does and has accomplished throughout the years. The time of the space race was intense. Many mistakes were made and unfortunately lives were lost along the way in the name of space exploration and technology development. These are things I did not realize until my visit here. It was definitely an eye opening experience into history.

There are many indoor air-conditioned exhibits including two IMAX theatres. A wonderful thing given our icky Florida humidity. These are just two of a few exhibits outdoors. It was a gorgeous March day. Standing next to these rockets definitely put into perspective how big rockets really are. There are a few different types of tours offered, but we learned unfortunately that most of them should be booked in advance of your visit because they always sell out ahead of time. These tours also cost extra in addition to your regular entrance fee.

Interestingly enough, the Kennedy Space Center is situated on land that is only 9% developed. They are also a Wildlife Sanctuary. They offer round the clock air-conditioned bus tours around the restricted area so you can see the different buildings and launch pads while also seeing the nests of rare birds along the way. They do have quite a few alligators on their property also.

The bus tour we took ended at an exhibit where you sit in a room that looked just like mission control. You experienced a simulation of what it felt like to be in that room when a launch countdown was in progress right down to the room shaking at blast off. It was such an exciting feeling and it felt so real too. 

You can also touch a (very small) piece of the moon at one of their exhibits.

We enjoyed the 3D IMAX presentation of the Hubble Telescope. That was very interesting.

But the real highlight of our visit was seeing the original Space Shuttle Atlantis in all her glory.

According to the tour guides, they never moved it after it landed the last time. They built this building around it. It is so awe inspiring to see this up close especially if you remember seeing it launched as a kid for its missions.

If you plan on visiting, make sure you plan ahead. You really should plan a whole day for your visit. Many of the exhibits have little movies at the beginning before they let you walk on. These take up most of your time within each exhibit. Overall there is so much to do and see, you will definitely want to have time to experience it all. 

If you still are in the mood for some beach time, you can always visit Cocoa Beach. It is five minutes down the street if you are staying in Cape Canaveral. It is as peaceful and laid back as it looks.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure to the Space Center. I will be back soon with another post. 

**Hugs and Love from Sunny Miami**

Jen