I was gifted entry to Kennedy Space Center and to chat with an Astronaut in exchange for this review; however, all opinions and experiences are my own. I was extremely excited for this visit as I have been a massive space geek since I was small. My ambition as a child was to be an astronaut and I entered every competition I could with dreams of going to space camp. We arrived at Kennedy Space Center just before it opened at 9am and before we even got to the gate we had pictures taken with an astronaut.

Once inside we found ourselves in the rocket garden, an outdoor area where rockets are displayed. It is hard to describe how big these are in real life and we spent some time exploring and looking at them.

We then headed straight for Gateway where we explored an exhibition called “The Deep Space Launch Complex. Gateway focuses on the present and future of collaborative space exploration. There are exhibits from past, present and future space travel and it was really interesting to see how far things have progressed, and where they are leading to.

Amongst the exhibits were the Orion capsule, a Starliner capsule – designed to carry 7 passengers or a combination of crew and cargo, space habitats including an expanding one that becomes the size of a three story building once in space, the Dragon capsule that launched on Falcon 9, a model of Artemis I and, hanging above us, Falcon 9!

Next we found ourselves at Spaceport KSC which is a simulator ride that allows visitors to experience space travel of the future and discover Uncharted Worlds lightyears away. We were first shown into a room where we chose our Mission from the four available and then we boarded the ride. Everyone is sat in a row of seats which lifts into the air and moves around as you watch the show on a screen around you, giving the feeling that you are there. The show was a mixture of educational information and footage of space.

After the ride it was time for the part of the day that I was most excited about. We headed over to another building where we were shown inside a conference room to our table. The table seated 8 and there were 7 people present including ourselves. We were able to help ourselves to food and drinks provided at a buffet table. As it was 10am, the food offered was breakfast items such as prepared fresh fruit, yogurts, muffins and pastries. There was a variety of soft drinks and alcoholic drinks to choose from. Once we had our food and were seated, Guy Gardner, an astronaut, came and joined us at the table for an hour and we were able to chat and ask him anything we liked. Guy flew as pilot on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-27 and STS-35 in 1986 and 1990.

Of course I had a million questions and it was amazing to find out about his 11 years as an astronaut and his 2 space missions. Guy was on the second space mission after the Challenger disaster and it was interesting to hear his perspective on his feelings as he embarked on this mission with regard to what happened. He said most people assume he would be fearful but as a man of faith he believed he was in the place he was meant to be in and as someone who had previously flown in the Air Force and was used to that element of danger, he was more excited than worried. It was also interesting to hear about his journey to becoming an astronaut and the steps he had taken at a young age to get himself on the right pathway. It made me a little sad that I had not pursued my own goals in this. He explained to us how primitive the technology was on the space shuttles when he flew and it was actually mind blowing to think that back in 1986 the onboard computers were those with green writing on a black background and their only way of finding out where they were over the earth was to type messages to ground control. Guy’s story is one of pursuing dreams, working hard, not giving up and seeing them becoming a reality.

Following this, we headed over to another building called Heroes & Legends featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame®. Here we were able to see, amongst exhibits of earlier space missions, the gallery of astronauts and a control room from 1962.

By this time it was almost midday so we made our way to the bus tour area where we boarded a coach. The coach took us to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. On the way we drove past the vehicle assembly building where we were able to see people working on the base of Artemis I.

The Apollo/Saturn V Center pays homage to the people and machines that made the improbable possible. We watched a show about how American space travel came about and the early space attempts and missions. It was an amazing story of perseverance in the face of failure, leading to dreams being achieved. We learnt of the Apollo I fire and how it led to an increased desire to reach the moon. After this was a show of a launch from the actual control room used at the time. 

Following this show we moved into a gigantic building where Saturn V, the largest rocket ever flown is displayed. It is impossible to convey the sheer size of this rocket without actually being there but it was an incredible experience to walk the length of it. 

At the Apollo/Saturn V center is the Moon Rock Cafe where lunch is available to purchase. If you take your own food, there is also a picnic area outside with a view over the lake of the launch pads, including the one where Apollo 11 launched to the moon in 1969.

We took the bus back to the Main Visitor Complex and made our way to the Space Shuttle Atlantis® exhibition. This began with an impressive show about space shuttles. At the end of the show the front opened and there was the actual Space Shuttle Atlantis! It was awesome to see an actual space shuttle in real life. The building also housed a variety of interactive exhibits and a childrens play area.

Downstairs was the Forever Remembered exhibition, a tribute to the men and women that lost their lives in the Columbia and Challenger disasters. This was an extremely moving exhibit that truly brought home the dangers of space travel  and the risks astronauts take.  


The last thing we did was the Shuttle Launch Experience® This was a fun simulator ride that showed what it was like to launch into space and allowed us to experience the feeling of sitting in a space shuttle as it launches.