CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER – Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for guests to see historic launch pads, marvel at the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), relive the early space era and learn about NASA's plans for future space exploration with three KSC Up-Close Tours. Cape Canaveral: Then and Now, Explore and the Launch Control Center tours all visit the secured area Kennedy Space Center, showcasing history that can't be seen anywhere else.

The tours culminate at the Apollo/Saturn V Center where visitors can relive America's race to the moon and marvel at a 363-foot-long moon rocket, one of only three remaining in the world. Guests can explore countless Apollo-era displays, replicas and artifacts at their own pace before returning to the Visitor Complex. All three KSC Up-Close Tours can be purchased in addition to daily admission.

Up-Close Cape Canaveral: Then and Now

This narrated, in-depth journey guides visitors through the Cape's 50-year history of space exploration. Highlights include Launch Complex 5/6, site of the first two Mercury launches and the birthplace of NASA's manned space program; the Air Force Space and Missile Museum, the Mercury Memorial, and Launch Complex 19, site of 10 manned missions in two years. The tour stops at Launch Complex 34, site of the 1967 Apollo 1 tragedy in which astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee perished in a fire during a launch test. The tour concludes at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Photo ID is required for guests age 18 and older. International guests must present a valid passport to participate. Photography and video are limited to designated tour stops. Price is $25 for adults and $19 for children (ages 3-11) plus tax, in addition to admission. 

KSC Up-Close Explore Tour

Visitors are provided an insider's view of the U.S. Space Program, from the launch sites of today at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to the past and future of space exploration at Kennedy Space Center. See the massive, 525-foot-high Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the Shuttle Landing Facility's nearly 3-mile-long runway and rocket launch pads supporting launches by NASA, SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance. The tour stops in between the Kennedy Space Center launch pads for a close-up photo opportunity, in front of the VAB, and on the NASA Causeway where guests are surrounded by a panoramic view of launch pads at Cape Canaveral that are currently accommodating rocket launches by NASA, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. Price is $25 for adults and $19 for children ages 3-11 plus tax, in addition to admission. 

 KSC Up-Close Launch Control Center (LCC) Tour

For the first time in 30 years, visitors can tour the legendary Launch Control Center (LCC) and Firing Room 4, from which all 21 space shuttle launches since 2006 were controlled. Inside Firing Room 4, visitors will pass by the computer consoles at which engineers monitored the computerized launch control system's thousands of checks every minute leading up to launch. They'll see the main launch countdown clock and large video monitors on the walls, and enter the “bubble room,” with its wall of interior windows through which the Kennedy Space Center management team viewed the proceedings below. In the near future, the LCC will continue to operate in guiding the next generation of rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center for NASA and potentially for commercial space programs. The tour also includes drive-by views of Launch Pad 39 and ends at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, where visitors can resume the regular tour. Price is $25 for adults and $19 for children ages 3-11 plus tax, in addition to admission.

Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour

The Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour is included in daily admission taking visitors past iconic space program images such as the countdown clock at NASA's Press Site, the 525-foot-high Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where rockets and the space shuttles were stacked in preparation for launch and one of the crawler transporters used to move Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles to the launch pad. The 1 hour 45 minute tour ends at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, which features dramatic multimedia shows and numerous hands-on displays as well as a 363-foot long Saturn V moon rocket. (Included with admission).

 About Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex brings to life the epic story of the U.S. space program, offering a full day or more of fun and educational activities, including the Kennedy Space Center Tour featuring the Apollo/Saturn V Center with an actual Saturn V moon rocket, the new Space Shuttle AtlantisSM, Shuttle Launch Experience®, IMAX® Hubble 3D and Journey to Space films, Astronaut Encounter,Exploration Space®: Explorers Wanted, Rocket Garden and many other interactive exhibits. Admission also includes the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame®, featuring historic spacecraft and the world's largest collection of personal astronaut memorabilia, which opens daily at noon and closing times vary by season. Only 45 minutes from Orlando, Fla., Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opens daily at 9 a.m. with closing times varying by season.  Admission is $50 + tax for adults and $40 + tax for children ages 3-11. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers annual passes starting at $75 + tax for adults and $60 + tax for children ages 3-11. For more information, call 877-313-2610 or visit www.KennedySpaceCenter.com.

Media Contacts:

Andrea Farmer, 321-449-4318, afarmer@delawarenorth.com

Nancy Glasgow, 407-375-2433, nancy@bitner.com