Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opens new plaza

Courtesy Kennedy Space Center

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — In late December, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex unveiled a new $16 million entry, the first phase of improvements designed to enhance the visitor experience.

The new entry includes a grand plaza and fountain; ticket stations and self-service kiosks; will call, guest services and information stations; a retail shop; and a new cafe designed in the retro style of the 1950s and 1960s.

The grand plaza features a new 13-foot-diameter 3D representation of the NASA insignia and a 75-foot-long fountain that features the face of President John F. Kennedy, for whom NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is named, and a quote from his famous 1962 “moon speech” at Rice University laser-etched onto an arch of blue granite that stands 30-feet at its highest point.
The inscription reads, “For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond.”

The 5,000-gallon fountain is lit in the evenings with LED lights and features 26 jets of water that can be programmed to create light shows.

The next stage of the visitor complex’s 10-year master plan includes the opening this summer of a $100 million, 90,000-square-foot exhibit to showcase space shuttle Atlantis.

www.kennedyspacecenter.com