It's official - No more free Kennedy Space Center tickets

[su_A_ve]

I just spoke to a Nasa rep with NASA’s Office of Legislative & Intergovernmental Affairs (OLIA) who is in charge of granting the free tickets to the congress offices.

Looks like word of mouth did it's job and they got overwhelmed with requests in the last few months. So this is what happened in the last few months.

In the past, they would get very infrequent requests and maybe cover up to 10% of the tickets they had allocated. However during the last few months, the requests became too much. The requests were coming in on the first of the month and were for more tickets than they had allocated for that month.

This resulted that they stopped honoring requests. There were no requests granted for December and they will no longer give out tickets.

The official response to my congressman office was:

We regret to inform you that there are no complimentary tickets available in 2014 for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In addition, OLIA will cease taking requests for complimentary tickets, effective July 1, 2014, which is when tickets for early 2015 would have become available.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

This feels like a total lack of logic. It's not grade school where if you don't have enough for everyone then nobody gets anything. They should give out what tickets they get first-come basis and better luck next time to the rest. Why would you just stop giving out any tickets because demand out-weighs the supply? I dunno. Feels like a cop-out because the officials don't want to deal with the requests. That's totally an assumption on my part...yeah, I know what assume gets me....but then it'd be pretty much par for the course, really... Sorry.

 

[su_A_ve]

This feels like a total lack of logic. It's not grade school where if you don't have enough for everyone then nobody gets anything. They should give out what tickets they get first-come basis and better luck next time to the rest. Why would you just stop giving out any tickets because demand out-weighs the supply? I dunno. Feels like a cop-out because the officials don't want to deal with the requests. That's totally an assumption on my part...yeah, I know what assume gets me....but then it'd be pretty much par for the course, really... Sorry.

That's exactly it - their office staff could handle the amount of requests coming in and decided to just stop issuing them instead of dealing with it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This feels like a total lack of logic. It's not grade school where if you don't have enough for everyone then nobody gets anything. They should give out what tickets they get first-come basis and better luck next time to the rest. Why would you just stop giving out any tickets because demand out-weighs the supply? I dunno. Feels like a cop-out because the officials don't want to deal with the requests. That's totally an assumption on my part...yeah, I know what assume gets me....but then it'd be pretty much par for the course, really... Sorry.

I don't get it either. I mean, if OLIA doesn't want to handle the logistics of this, why can't they just send X amount of tickets directly to the Congressmen's office on a monthly (or quarterly, or semi-annual) basis and let the Congressmen's offices handle them?

How hard is that?

 

[jdb in AZ]

I don't get it either. I mean, if OLIA doesn't want to handle the logistics of this, why can't they just send X amount of tickets directly to the Congressmen's office on a monthly (or quarterly, or semi-annual) basis and let the Congressmen's offices handle them?

How hard is that?

You're forgetting this is Congress we're talking about.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You're forgetting this is Congress we're talking about.

Yeah, but I'm talking about the OLIA not wanting to deal with the "handling" issues any longer. Just send the tickets to the congressmen and let them handle the requests. Still have the first-come, first-served policy with only a limited number of tickets, but not just one office having to handle them (on top of whatever else they do). If the congressman conveniently "loses" the tickets, or says they don't do that sort of thing, it's on them. not NASA.

I guess the question is - is the free ticket thing a government perk, or a good will thing offered by NASA?

 

[lbgraves]

I am honestly surprised that they have done this free ticket thing for so long. Just think of all the potential income they have lost over the years. NASA needs funding. Makes sense to me.

 

[pkgman]

I am honestly surprised that they have done this free ticket thing for so long. Just think of all the potential income they have lost over the years. NASA needs funding. Makes sense to me.

Goodwill. It's such a small amount of money that impact would be insignificant.

Look at what we did. Look at what we are doing now. Kids love rockets. Kids have imagination. When kids grow up and support NASA.

Our achievements in space are a very,very long time ago - for most adults m=not just kids.

I paid for my family of four to go to KSC. Its a worthwhile cost for the educational value. I could not believe that if everyone visiting KSC paid full admission that the revenue for fund NASA for weeks if not days or less.

 

[su_A_ve]

Remember that the Kennedy Space Center is a for profit venue...

Now, look at what can be done in DC for free. I'd stick with the Udvar-Hazy Center.

 

[ChasRN]

I can understand them stopping the program. It's one of those just under the radar things that got ruined by the internet. I can see them not wanting to have more people upset about not getting tickets than those that actually do get tickets. It just wouldn't be worth it to them publicity and goodwill wise.

Charles

 

[richw2]

And how many of your business, or places you work give out free services or merchandise?? I am sure they not only got the thousand of requests, but also the thousands of hate letters demanding their free tickets. Pay the few dollars, consider it an excursion, and enjoy..

 

[momof2n2]

I am honestly surprised that they have done this free ticket thing for so long. Just think of all the potential income they have lost over the years. NASA needs funding. Makes sense to me.

But I never would have set foot in there had it not been free. We at least dropped some money while we were there. Admission is just too expensive for what it is.

Goodwill. It's such a small amount of money that impact would be insignificant. Look at what we did. Look at what we are doing now. Kids love rockets. Kids have imagination. When kids grow up and support NASA. Our achievements in space are a very,very long time ago - for most adults m=not just kids. I paid for my family of four to go to KSC. Its a worthwhile cost for the educational value. I could not believe that if everyone visiting KSC paid full admission that the revenue for fund NASA for weeks if not days or less.

I'm pleased you thought it was a worthwhile investment. We had to pay for our 3-year-old out of pocket (my mom & sister's household ticket got two of my kids in & our household ticket got two of our kids in; baby was free). It was $43 for our 3 year old. I could never have dropped that x 7 even if that was the adult price. (Adult price would have been more.)

I do not have space-interested kids. (They are far more intrigued by animals or colonial America.)

I'm sad the free entry is over.

 

[momof2n2]

And how many of your business, or places you work give out free services or merchandise?? I am sure they not only got the thousand of requests, but also the thousands of hate letters demanding their free tickets. Pay the few dollars, consider it an excursion, and enjoy..

I think folks are afraid to drop what you refer to as a few dollars (I confess don't see it as few...). Space-program history is not everyone's idea of a sure-fun-thing. We had to work at enjoying ourselves the day we were there. We aren't "Angry Birds" types. That one building the bus drives you to hadn't changed since our 6/2000 visit. It wasn't until we got to the Atlantis display we even had our interest piqued. But it was well after lunch by then and it was too-little-to-late.

We did, and always do, adapt the make-the-best-of-it mentality and did find some things to make us smile. But if it had had a > $300 price tag for us, we'd never have even tried it out.

 

[Nik's Mom]

If your family is not in to space, then why continue to go back?

 

[momof2n2]

If your family is not in to space, then why continue to go back?

We went in 2000, pre-kids. Took them because it was free. Have been touting free-tix to all our FL-going friends who also would never pay that price... They may have enjoyed it more than us but the admission price is STEEP!

 

[Dorisk3]

Wow!
If you can afford the most expensive of mainstream cruise lines, you can afford space center tickets.
Personally we did an excursion and loved it. It was worth every cent and I wish we could have stayed longer.

 

[momof2n2]

Wow! If you can afford the most expensive of mainstream cruise lines, you can afford space center tickets. Personally we did an excursion and loved it. It was worth every cent and I wish we could have stayed longer.

Most folks boarding a DCL ship are fairly certain they are going to enjoy themselves. (And it took me 3 years to save for inside stateroom.)
Anyway - glad we got free tickets. I'd NEVER drop $300+ for a day there.

 

[ptcbass]

Most folks boarding a DCL ship are fairly certain they are going to enjoy themselves. (And it took me 3 years to save for inside stateroom.)
Anyway - glad we got free tickets. I'd NEVER drop $300+ for a day there.

I agree. It takes us a long time to save for a 3 day so we won't drop $$$ for several hours at KSC either.