Kennedy then and now
In my last blog we took a bus tour around the Kennedy Space Centre.
We saw the gantries and launch pads for past and future missions.
Now we’ll take a look at the Visitor Centre, the main hub for space enthusiasts.
The last time I visited Kennedy was in 1994.
Kennedy Space Centre leaflet, 1994
Things have changed a lot since then.
In 1994, the Visitor Centre was like an outdoor rocket museum.
Rocket Garden 1994: Photo Dennis Ashton
Then, in 1995, the Visitor Centre was taken over by a private company.
Nearby theme parks like Disneyland influenced new visitor attractions.
Now the Kennedy Visitor Centre has big showpiece venues that look at the history and future of American spaceflight.
Let’s stroll around and drop in to the exhibitions.
The rocket garden
I love this place. As you can see from the photo above, the rocket garden was there in 1994.
It’s still essentially the same, though a few more rockets have been added.
They are big! Standing near them you can appreciate the sheer power of a lift-off.
Dennis at the Rocket Garden, 2026.
At the back of the garden is the huge Saturn 1 rocket.
This is the predecessor of the Saturn Vs which took astronauts to the Moon.
Saturn 1 rocket
Astronaut Memorial
We walk past a bistro cafe and theatres to the Space Mirror Memorial.
It’s a quiet, emotional place.
The memorial is a wall of polished black granite, 42 feet tall and 50 feet wide.
It’s split into 90 panels.
Carved through some of the panels are the names of astronauts who have sadly died in various NASA programmes.
The names are cut right through the granite and filled with translucent acrylic.
When I visited in 1994, sunlight was reflected through the names by a mirror.
Dennis at the Astronaut Memorial, 1994.
Now the names are backlit by LED lights.
The memorial bears 25 names. There are empty panels that will inevitably carry more names in the future.
This panel bears the names of the seven astronauts who died in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003.
The names glow brightly through the granite. The panels often appear blue as they reflect the bright Florida sky.
As I said, this part of the Visitor Centre is a quiet place for reflection.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
Walking out of the memorial area, we come to the Atlantis exhibition.
This is one of the most dramatic experiences at Kennedy and exemplifies the new theme park feel.
Entrance to the Atlantis exhibition
The build up
The entrance is dominated by a replica of the Space Shuttle external tank and solid rocket boosters.
It’s 184 feet tall and gives an impression of the power needed to launch craft into space.
Inside, audiences move through a series of exhibition halls in groups.
In the first hall there’s a multi-media presentation showing the development of the Space Shuttle.
A huge door opens into a second room.
There we watch Shuttle launches and missions on a huge screen.
Then comes pure drama.
The screen becomes transparent and rises to reveal another hall beyond.
We walk through….and there she is: Atlantis!
Atlantis
Atlantis is suspended on her side with her cargo bay open.
The first impression is her size. She’s big! 122 feet long.
Then you see the details: the tiles, windows, robotic arm, cargo bay furniture, the rocket engine nozzles.
It’s quite magnificent.
Atlantis flew 33 missons between 1985 and 2011.
She completed 4,848 orbits and travelled 126 million miles.
Down stairs, below Atlantis, there are lots more exhibits.
They include a replica of an International Space Station cabin and the Hubble Space Telescope gallery.
Then we took a walkway to the Shuttle launch experience.
This is a theme park style simulator that creates the sights, sounds and feelings of a Space Shuttle launch.
It’s a noisy, bone-shaking ride, great fun!
Atlantis is one of the flagship attractions at Kennedy Space Centre.
The second is the Apollo / Saturn V Centre.
Apollo / Saturn V Centre
This is outside the main visitor complex and reached by a tour bus.
It’s another enormous building.
It has to be, because it houses a Saturn V rocket, the rocket that launched Apollo astronauts to the Moon.
Saturn V
The Saturn V runs the full length of the huge hall, held high on steel struts.
At launch, the rocket stood 363 feet tall, higher than the statue of Liberty.
Saturn V rocket hall
When I visited Kennedy in 1994, the Saturn V was displayed outside.
Saturn V on display in 1994
It was laid almost at ground level, so you could get up really close.
Saturn V engines, 1994.
To be honest, it was a better experience just because of that.
However, the iconic rocket needed protection from the Atlantic elements.
The Apollo / Saturn V Centre is now its safe home.
And it’s still stunningly impressive.
Apollo exhibits
Saturn V is clearly the centrepiece of the exhibition.
But there are lots of other wonderful Apollo artifacts.
Apollo 14 Command Module
My favourite is the Apollo 14 Command Module.
This spacecraft took Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Ed Mitchell to the Moon in 1971.
Named Kitty Hawk, the craft orbited the Moon 34 times with Roosa onboard.
Meanwhile Shepard and Mitchell made the third landing on the Moon.
LunarModule
You can see what a Moon landing looks like.
There’s an unused Lunar Module on a Moon surface set.
The module, LM-9, was made to use on Apollo 15.
When Apollo 17 was cancelled, they used its lander instead.
Hands on the Moon
The Apollo missions brought back 382 kilograms of Moon rock.
There’s a slice of that rock that you can touch among the exhibits in the Apollo Centre.
Launch Control
Another fascinating exhibit is a mock up of the Apollo control centre.
It takes you back to that exciting era when we saw humans walking on the Moon on our TV sets.
And much more….
There’s more in the Apollo / Saturn Centre for visitors to enjoy.
Space suits, the service module, an astronaut van and a theatre invite guests to learn more about Apollo.
Space suit worn by Gene Cernan, last man on the Moon.
There’s also a self-order cafe with the usual menu of American fast food.
Moon Rock cafe, Apollo / Saturn V Centre
And there’s more in the Visitor Centre complex.
Other buildings house an IMAX cinema, Mars exploration and, of course, gift shops.
Orbit Cafe, Kennedy Visitor Centre
There are more cafes too, where Americans devour mountains of burgers and fries.
We enjoyed a Key Lime pie!
Final Impressions
Kennedy Space Centre is a wonderful place to visit
We spent all day there and still did not see everything.
The Visitor Centre has changed beyond recognition in the 32 years since my last visit.
It’s not a static rocket museum any more. Now it’s a vibrant kind of theme park.
The Disney feel has not trivialised the history and the technology of spaceflight.
Rather it has reinforced it.
That’s because the exhibits and multi-media shows are of the highest quality.
After our visit, I wrote this in my journal:
The theme park feel does not detract from the amazing achievements that NASA has made.
In fact the quality of the shows enhances our understanding and appreciation of human spaceflight.
If you ever go to Florida, please put the Kennedy Space Centre at the top of your ‘must do’ list.
It is simply the best space place in the world.
The author: Dennis Ashton, MBE, is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Wonderdome presenter.
In 2024, Dennis received the Special Contribution award from the British Association of Planetaria.
In 2025 he became a Member of the Order of the British Empire for over 50 years work in Astronomy Education.
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