Journeying through the cosmos remains limited to a select few. But, for the galactic-curious, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island, about four hours from Southwest Florida, provides an opportunity to adventure through space while keeping your feet—mostly–on the ground. Bonus: There’s something for every member of the family.
Start your visit with Planet Play, an immersive, multi-story indoor playground housed in a former IMAX theater. Designed with young visitors (ages 2 to 12) in mind, the area transports wee-ones through a neon-lit, cavernous tunnel into a space odyssey-inspired, open-play arena, complete with an LED-interactive floor, where children create their own constellations. After, visit Shuttle Space Atlantis, a 90,000-square-foot exhibit housing the famed namesake orbiter and interactive displays. Don’t miss the thrilling blast off in the Space Shuttle Launch, a simulation of the nearly 10-minute ascent into orbit for riders taller than 44 inches.
For tween and teen explorers, the five-hour, add-on Astronaut Training Experience places kids ages 10 to 17 in a crew of Mars travelers. They’ll experience a virtual-reality walk on the Red Planet, mission-control training and microgravity simulators that recreate the experience of repairing the outside of a spaceship. (You can book individual parts of the four training modules if you’re short on time.) If your kid has their heart set on becoming an astronaut, Mars Base 1 gives them a taste of the real thing—or as close as you can get without blasting off. The five- to seven-hour program puts you in the heart of base operations. Contribute to real NASA operations in the Botany Space Lab—budding science lovers harvest and study various crops, gathering data that will be sent to NASA’s Space Food Systems team to help inform future Mars plantings.
In both programs, guests work as a group to navigate the cosmos and solve realistic scenarios, like recouping an uncrewed supply vehicle.
Adult space nerds need not feel left out: Book a Chat with an Astronaut session for a Q-and-A with a certified space traveler, and no more than 40 guests, over drinks and light bites (kids are welcome, too). Curious about the merits and perils of space meals or the logistics of showering in zero-gravity? These folks will fill you in. Now, get ready to take flight.
Courtesy Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Aspiring astronauts and space-curious kiddos find out-of-this-world wonder at Kennedy Space Center, with hands-on activities and exhibits like the lunar module.
WHERE TO EAT
Refuel after-hours at Playalinda Brewing Company, a microbrewery with fun beer flavors and refined pub food.
WHERE TO STAY
The fun-yet-elevated Westgate Cocoa Beach Resort has a lazy river—the perfect place to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere with a languid float.