Planning a visit to Kennedy Space Center

[Raigmore]

We are going to Kennedy Space Center on a non-launch weekday this spring and would like some advice on planning the tour. We will arrive soon after the opening time of 9am and stay till the complex closes. But we want to see as much as possible during that period, including one or two of the tours. If we do the NASA Close-up tour, do we still have to go on the KSC Bus tour also to see the L-39 gantry and Apollo / Saturn V areas?

 

[Mskanga]

I didn't go this time , but my dh took my kids to see this just a couple of weeks ago and he said yes , you do have to take the bus tour to see that. So did my dd, she's a space nut.

 

[BuckyBadgerFan]

The Up Close tour is on KSC buses. You do not have to change buses or do anything else. They will take you out to the launch areas and you then end at the visitor center that has the Saturn V inside it.

We did the Up Close tour in Dec. of 2002. This was right before the ill fated launch of Columbia. We got to get rather close to the pad she was on. It was fun driving right by the other groups.

It is well worth the extra money to do the tour. We also got to get close to the VAB (although they don't let anyone inside anymore- they did when I was a little girl and they were telling us about how they had plans for a space shuttle). You also get to see the runway where the shuttles land.

We spent all of the day after Christmas there, and didn't see everything there was to see.