“Let’s go to the Rocket Garden,” said Pepe Muñoz, a seven year old.

“Yes, rockets!” Exclaimed Juan, his younger brother, pulling the arm of his mother, María Elena Muñoz, a visitor from Orlando who was enjoying a day at the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral.

“The boys are having a wonderful time –they want to become astronauts when they grow up,” she said.

Maybe, like Pepe and Juan, you too played with paper airplaines and rocket models in your childhood and you dreamed of becoming an astronaut and going to the moon or Mars. But as it’s often the case in real life, you put those dreams, nicely folded away and stored them in one of the armoires of your mind. But, no matter, there’s a place where you can live out your dream, if only for a day.

Kennedy Space Center, a 70-acre attraction, is where we all can feel like astronauts –being able to see gigantic rockets like the biggest in the world, the 363-foot Saturn V, visiting launch pads of the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo missions and feeling the excitement of real space journeys, among other things.

Located on Cape Canaveral, some 45 minutes east of Orlando, KSC typically attracts 1.5 million visitors annually. In its beginnings, in 1967 it was a place for the relatives of pioneer astronauts to watch their loved ones launched into space. Through the years, attractions were added, making the center one of the most popular tourist spots in Florida.

The center has increased its popularity with the resumption of space shuttle launches –suspended for a couple of years after the Columbia tragedy of 2003 – and with the recent opening of a new $160 million Space Shuttle Experience attraction and successful mission to Mars and the International Space Station this spring.

The Shuttle Launch Experience is exciting. It has 4,088 square meters and is equipped with advanced flight simulator technology and its own, specially designed launch pad. It also has multiple screens for such views as one of the earth from space, advance sound effects and special effects seats, so all can feel like astronauts on a daring mission.

The center consulted with real astronauts Rick Searfoss and Tom Jones in the creation of the ride which invites visitors to “feel what the astronauts have felt and see what they’ve seen –firsthand, “ said Daniel LeBlanc, COO of the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.

Thirty-nine astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, came to the grand opening, said Andrea Farmer, a spokesperson for the center. “They were amazed at how accurate the experience was considering we were operating within Earth’s gravity,” Farmer added.

“It is really exciting –I was scared at first because it is so real that it seemed they were really going to launch us into space,” said Becky Tilton, a visitor from New York.

The KSC is ideal for a day trip during your vacations to Orlando and its surroundings as it is like an open book on science with chapters of science-fiction about space exploration. It features an impressive collection of rockets, space capsules, space shuttles and space equipment, launch pads, assembly building for the space shuttle (the biggest building of the world in area), IMAX films about space exploration and new interactive experiences. In other words, it has everything needed to spend a day “in another world.”

Start your visit with the Kennedy Space Center Tour, included in admission. It goes behind the scenes to show aspects of the space shuttle program, including views of the launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Crawler-Transporter, the six-million-pound machine that transports the shuttle to its launch pad.

Other must-sees include the following:

*The Apollo/Saturn V Center A gigantic lunar rocket, Saturn V, is the centerpiece here. Visitors may also experience the excitement of the launch of Apollo 8 in the Firing Room Theatre and the moments before the first lunar landing in the Lunar Theatre.

* IMAX Theaters: There are two IMAX screens –five and a half stories high each – that show movies about space exploration in 3D.

* Rocket Garden: Eight rockets of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions delight young and old.

* Opportunities to hob-nob with astronauts: The Astronaut Encounter is a half-hour program with a real astronaut, included in admission, and the Lunch With An Astronaut program includes a presentation, buffet lunch, question-and-answer period and autographed souvenir (tickets are $22.99 for adults and $15.99 for children, in addition to admission to Kennedy Space Center).

Location to KSC: 45 minutes east of Orlando on State Road 405.

IF YOU GO–
Tickets: $38 (adults) and $28 (children ages 3 to 11). Admission includes a tour, the Shuttle Launch Experience, IMAX films, admission to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and free second day visit to the Kennedy Space Center.
Location: 45 minutes east of Orlando on State Road 405.
Information: Call 321-449-4444 or visit
www.kennedyspacecenter.com.

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