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Cocoa Beach has cool kitsch. A day here might include a stop at the Surf Museum, shopping at a tiki gallery and a trip down I Dream of Jeannie Lane (yes, it’s a real street). Yes, master. This is a beach town with a sense of humor and a serious case of nostalgia – a lively, beloved throwback that also happens to occupy a crucial spot on America’s timeline.

In 2008, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration celebrates its history with a 50^th anniversary series of events. A key part of the anniversary is the NASA/Discovery Channel documentary series When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions.

Outside the Kennedy Space Center, the beachy landscape still has the power to evoke the moment when the popular imagination was gripped by the possibilities of space travel. In the early days, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn and the rest of the Mercury 7 crew tooled around what was known as Missileland, U.S.A., where crowds once gathered on the beach to watch launches through binoculars – and still do.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Air Force’s missile test center was well established on Cape Canaveral and the space program was tuning up, the local population swelled from 23,000 to 70,000. The town’s character also became more expansive: Space-themed motels with names like The Sea Missile, AstroCraft and Satellite popped up alongside trippy diners like The Moon Hut. These mod motels hosted launch parties out by their pools for industry-insiders and boasted extravagant signage. We play homage to the “Mercury 7” era with seven top sights from the time of Mercury and Apollo.

Think of this place as the base camp around which the other Space Coast sites orbit. The Visitor Complex is command central for families looking to engage with the universe, which feels awfully close here.

At the complex’s U.S Astronaut Hall of Fame, commissioned by the Mercury 7, you’ll find Gus Grissom’s smaller-than-you’d-expect space suit (the original flight capsules were only 6 feet by 10 inches high). The Sigma 7 Mercury craft is also on display, as well as Deke Slayton’s on-board knife, in place, if necessary, to pry open the capsule door. You’ll see Mercury 7 equipment and hardware, Gordo Cooper’s cue cards from the first TV broadcast from space, transmission recordings, space rocks and dirt.

KSC has added new ways to experience space other than just buying astronaut ice cream in the gift shop; you can now go through flight training, ride on a Space Shuttle launch, smell the moon and have lunch with an (real) astronaut.

Now The Surf Bar & Grill, this seafood stop at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Minuteman Causeway opened in 1948 and is reportedly where the Mercury 7 ate their last dinner before stepping into the capsule. Inside, this former “cocktail lounge” has glossy, dark wood and a gleaming bar, as well as old photos showing the triumphal astronauts on parade in the streets of Cocoa. A frequent and famous destination for the space industry in the 1960s, what was Bernard’s Surf once served bear and alligator. 2 South Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach.

Once a bank, this mid-century modern building at 505 N. Orlando Avenue was made almost completely of glass and is recognizable by its millipede-like legs. Damaged by Hurricane Frances, the “Glass Bank” has changed, though its distinctive ‘60s launch-pad look remains. Ramon’s Rainbow Room (there were two locations for Ramon’s) once occupied the penthouse.

At Ramon’s, astronauts held wild parties and the Caesar salad was so famous it made the newspapers. The restaurant is gone and the building is for lease, so we almost don’t want to mention it. Except that it’s such a visible and unique building, you can’t miss it when you go through town.

In 1962, John Glenn and his family worshipped at Riverside Presbyterian Church at 3400 Atlantic Ave. on the A1A. It was here that Glenn was mobbed by autograph seekers; Glenn also spoke from the pulpit of what is now the church’s Knox Hall.

This riverwalk at 4 Main St. in Titusville (which includes a Mercury monument with a giant “7” and astronaut handprints) includes interactive displays and plaques that celebrate the achievements of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts, as well as the hundreds of engineers, mechanics and others who made the space program possible. Head to the accompanying museum to see launch consoles and Titan memorabilia. The museum even has Soviet space memorabilia. Look across the water and you can see the mammoth (and historic) Vehicle Assembly Building in the distance.

Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach

This Holiday Inn was run by Henri Landwirth, a Holocaust survivor and friend to the Mercury 7 astronauts. The pool was the scene of astronaut hijinx; at the dining room Landwirth once served Gus Grissom a meal made with cardboard as a joke (Grissom ate it).

Once next door to the Holiday Inn and now subsumed by it, a Ramada Inn housed Wolfie’s Deli, famous for its part in Grissom’s in-flight corned beef sandwich fiasco (Grissom violated NASA’s rule that he wasn’t to eat anything during the flight). Much updated, you can still swim in the pool where the astronauts swam. CBS News producer Don Hewitt, in his biography, recounts that he and Walter Cronkite stayed at the hotel with the astronauts’ families before each launch.

In 1962, the original Mercury 7 astronauts invested in this hotel, which was originally called the Cape Colony. You’ll find a plaque commemorating the 7 in the lobby; it is now a La Quinta.