Though the U.S. government has decided that space exploration is an expense it cannot maintain at its current pace, the history of America’s exploration of space is fascinating. It is a window into the future when private companies will be initiating space flight.
Now, the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center is being opened to limited numbers of tourists for the first time as an add-on the normal NASA tours.
For more than 30 years, tour buses have driven guests past the 525-foot tall Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at Kennedy Space Center, pointing out the massive building in which Apollo V rockets, and later, space shuttles, were assembled for launch. But only a select few, including astronauts, NASA officials and space center personnel, have ever had the opportunity to go inside the building – until now.
For the first time since 1978, guests at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will have the chance to disembark their tour buses and tour inside the VAB to see firsthand where monstrous vehicles were assembled for launch, from the very first Saturn V rocket in the late 1960s to the very last space shuttle, STS-135 Atlantis, earlier this year.
The opportunity to visit the VAB will be offered for a limited time to a limited number of Visitor Complex guests per day as part of KSC Up-Close, a new two-hour, guided special interest tour.* Beginning Nov. 1, the tour will be offered eight times daily for $25 for adults and $19 for children ages 3-11, plus the cost of admission which is $43 + tax for adults and $33 + tax for children ages 3-11.
The VAB tour stop is just one part of the two-hour guided KSC Up-Close tour. The tour includes Kennedy Space Center landmarks, the Operations & Checkout building (O&C), which serves as the astronaut crew quarters prior to each launch, the NASA Causeway for a panoramic view of the Banana River, the Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs), and the massive Crawler Transporters and “Crawlerway,” the equivalent of an eight-lane highway lined with river rock and designed to support the crushing weight of the Saturn V and space shuttles along with their mobile launch platforms.
During the tour visitors may have an opportunity to see launch pads 17, 37, 40, and 41, which are still used today for commercial and government launches today.
The Vehicle Assembly Building tour stop is not a part of the regular KSC bus tour which is included with admission.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also offers the special interest tour, Cape Canaveral: Then & Now, highlighting America’s first launches of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Guests can visit the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, and see the launch complex where Alan Shephard lifted off to become the first American in space, Pad 34, the site of the tragic Apollo 1 fire, as well as active launch pads used for commercial and government rocket launches.
Book the KSC Up-Close special interest tour at www.KennedySpaceCenter.com or call 866-737-5235. Reservations are strongly suggested.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
