Kennedy Space Center for the Family

By Chelle Koster Walton
Published: November 18, 2007
Last Updated On: July 13, 2011

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Kennedy Space Center

Cocoa Beach

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Cape Canaveral

Escape the usual theme parks and visit the Kennedy Space Center during your Orlando visit.

Experience the past, present and future of space exploration at the family-friendly Kennedy Space Center. The space complex offers guests an opportunity to meet their favorite astronauts, tour a full-size replica of the space shutte and watch stirring films in the larger-than-life IMAX Theater. Educationally stimulating for adults and teens, most exhibits can also be enjoyed by the youngest of children.

The complex is multi-faceted and the only way to tour it all is with regular admission, which gets you into the two IMAX theaters and onto a guided bus tour that takes you around the different visitors and launch pad observation areas.

The most recent additions to the campus are the Shuttle Launch Experience, a simulation of the sights, sounds and sensations of launching into space, and Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted, featuring live theater, interactive experiences and large scale multimedia presentations display what the future of space travel may look like..


Pre-Schooler Favorites

Although little ones' favorite place is going to be the covered Play Dome, complete with a 1:5 scale Space Shuttle/Space Station Gym, pre-schoolers will be fascinated by the rocket parts and pieces. They can walk through a replica of the space shuttle Explorer at the main visitors center and climb into Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsule replicas in the Rocket Garden. Don't miss the gift shop for toy space ships or freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches, astronaut style.


Grade-School Winners

At the Visitor Complex, older kids will laugh as they learn in the Robot Scouts exhibit, a flashy, funny multi-media presentation you walk through. 

The IMAX theater presentations can vary; check the Kennedy Space Center's website to find the latest showings.

To reach different aspects of the space center, you must board the tour bus. One stop is the 60-foot-tall LC39 Observation Gantry, a multi-level deck that looks out at two launch pads, the Crawlerway and Vehicle Assembly Building. On the gantry's bottom floor, there's a theater presentation and interactive room for behind-the-scenes and hands-on involvement.

At the awesome Apollo/Saturn V Center, kids can touch an actual moon rock (and dine next to it at the Moon Rock Café), gape at one of only three 363-foot moon rockets in existence overhead, and step into the Firing Room Theater for a shuttle launch re-creation and to engage in other interactive displays. The Lunar Theater presents a multi-media show culminating in the landing of a moon module. The theater presents a multimedia show culminating in the landing of a moon module. The Apollo Treasures Gallery showcases treasures from the Apollo moon missions, including Apollo 14 Commander Alan Shepard's spacesuit and the Apollo 14 Command Module, Kitty Hawk, along with a rare collection of spacesuits and other gear used by the Apollo moonwalkers.

Older kids and adults with an interest in space can immerse themselves in one-of-a-kind experiences including coming face-to-face with space heroes from past missions, who answer questions and tell personal tales of space exploration during daily Astronaut Encounter briefings.

Terrific for 'Tweens, Teens and Upwards

Older kids and adults with an interest in space can immerse themselves in one-of-a-kind experiences including coming face-to-face with space heroes from past missions, who answer questions and tell personal tales of space exploration during daily Astronaut Encounter briefings. To take it a step further, pre-arrange participation in the Lunch with an Astronaut program.

Through a Discover KSC: Today and Tomorrow, you experience up-close views of space shuttle launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), massive crawler-transporters, which move the space shuttle from the VAB to its launch pad, and Shuttle Landing Facility. The tour stops in between the space shuttle launch pads, offering a close-up photo opportunity, in front of the VAB and on the NASA Causeway where guests are surrounded by myriad rocket launch pads.

U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, in addition to its tribute to America's space heroes, adds a thrill portion to your visit with space flight simulators that jostle you across Martian terrain, turn you upside down and let you experience zero gravity and G-force first-hand. Adults will enjoy the nostalgic walk down memory lane - a sound and sight time line tracing space history as it coincides with contemporary popular trends and world events. You can tour it separately or with a regular admission pass from KSC.


Launch Off

Want to experience a launch first-hand? No problem. Simply time your visit around NASA's next scheduled liftoff. Tickets for on-site viewing are available through Kennedy Space Center or you can watch for free from the beaches along A1A in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. Call 321-449-4444 or visit www.kennedyspacecenter.com for ticket information, launch schedules and general attraction information. A word of warning: weather and technical problems often delay launches, so have an alternative activity planned.