Page 304 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

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6 Cocoa Beach screens that are five floors
high. Footage from the shuttle
* 11,200. @ Merritt Island. missions offer breathtaking
n 8501 Astronaut Blvd, (321)
784-6444. views of Earth from space.
West of the entrance, the
This large, no-frills resort calls Rocket Garden is where
itself the East Coast’s surfing visitors can walk through a
capital. Surfing festivals set group of rockets, each
the tone, along with win-your- representing different stages
weight-in-beer competitions. in space history. With Journey
Motels, restaurants, and gift to Mars: Explorers Wanted,
and souvenir shops characterize visitors can learn what the
the main street. The dazzling future holds for space
Ron Jon Surf Shop has surf exploration and discover
boards galore (for sale and the latest developments at
rent) and a huge T-shirt Rockets on display at the Cape Canaveral NASA; visitors can even step
collection. The pleasant Air Force Station inside a replica of the Orion-
beaches offer great viewing spacecraft, NASA’s next
spots for the rocket launches NASA rockets as well as generation of transport into
from Cape Canaveral. commercial rockets, such deep space, and which seeks
as SpaceX, continue to be to explore Mars, asteroids, and
launched from Cape Canaveral. the moon. The Astronaut
7 Kennedy Space The center was also the site of Encounter is where visitors
Center the historic launch of Apollo 11 can meet some one who has
in July 1969, when President launched, lived, and worked
Off Rte 405, 6 miles (9.6 km) E of John F. Kennedy’s dream of aboard the space shuttle or
Titusville. Tel (321) 449-4444. landing a man on the moon the International Space Center.
@ Titusville. Open 9am–6pm daily was realized. At the heart of the Visitor
(closing time varies Sep–Dec; The Visitor Complex, built in Complex, the Space Shuttle
check website). Closed Dec 25. 1967 for astronauts and their Atlantis Exhibit displays the
The center occasionally closes for families to view space center Atlantis, as only astronauts
operational requirements; always
call ahead. & 7 wheelchairs operations, is a 131-sq-mile have previously seen it –
available at Infor mation Central. (340-sq-km) facility that includes suspended in the air, with
0 = Tel (866) 737-5235. many attractions. Its highlights its payload doors open and its
∑ kennedyspacecenter.com include the Space Shuttle robotic arm extended, as if it
Atlantis exhibition and the two were at work at the Inter-
When Cape Canaveral was IMAX® Theaters, which show national Space Station.
chosen as the site for NASA’s films on space exploration on Simulators and exhibits
(National Aeronautics and
Space Administration) space
program in the 1960s, the
area came to be known as
the Space Coast. The Kennedy
Space Center on Merritt Island
was the launching place for
shuttle flights to the Inter-
national Space Center until
2011. The historic space
shuttles no longer fly, but Space Shuttle Atlantis, Kennedy Space Center
Timeline of American Space Exploration
1975 American Apollo and 1996 Mars Pathfinder sent to gather
1958 First 1969 Neil
American Armstrong and Russian Soyuz vehicles dock data from the surface of Mars
satellite, the Buzz Aldrin in orbit (Jul 17) 2003 Columbia 2015 A new era of
Explorer 1, is (Apollo 11) walk 1981 Columbia is breaks up upon space flight for
launched on the moon the first shuttle in re-entry into the SpaceX and other
(Jan 31) (Jul 24) space (Apr 12) atmosphere (Feb 1) commercial rockets
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
1962 John
1961 Alan Glenn orbits 1990 The Hubble telescope is 2011 Final flight of shuttle
Shephard the earth in launched (Apr 24) Atlantis and the end of the
becomes the Mercury 1986 The Challenger explodes, 30-year Space Shuttle
first American spacecraft killing its crew (Jan 28) Program
in space
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp326–8 and pp329–31

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