Florida Central

Cape Cannaveral or The Kennedy Space Centre

is a launch facility on Merrit Island. Try to time your visit to the Space Centre for the space shuttle launch, an amazing experience!  The visitor complex houses museums, two IMAX theatres and bus tours to restricted parts of the Kennedy Space Centre. The Astronaut Memorial or Space Mirror is a huge black granite memorial, engraved with the names of all astronauts who have died in the line of duty. The stone is illuminated from behind which gives the impression of the names floating in a reflection of the sky. If you are fortunate enough for your vacation to coincide with the lauch of a space shuttle at Cape Cannaveral, make sure that you do not miss this spectacular event. I tried to get over to Merrit Island one year for the launch but underestimated the volume of traffic there would be. Approximately half an hour's distance from Kennedy Space Centre, we hit a 4 lane traffic jam. Nearing launch time everyone just got out of their cars on the freeway (the scene still reminds me of the video for Everybody Hurts by REM) and trained their cameras and camcorders on the sky. Next thing the ground beneath our feet started vibrating, the noise was tremendous and then the shuttle appeared against the brilliant blue sky. It is, absolutely, the most amazing experience anyone could ever imagine.

For dates of launches (not exclusively Shuttle launches and not exclusively in Florida)  click here