Astronauts Memorial Foundation

The Astronauts Memorial Foundation honors the past and inspires the future. Our astronauts are national treasures. Each year at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, AMF recognizes their sacrifice on a Day of Remembrance at the Space Mirror Memorial, a 42-foot high by 50-foot wide polished granite monument that glows with the astronauts' names.

In addition to paying tribute to our fallen astronauts, AMF also inspires future generations of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians through its Center for Space Education. The Center is a place where students, teachers, and mentors experience building rockets, robotic competitions, and other hands-on learning activities. They also see and experience America's space program first hand. When children see how to apply what they're learning to something as exciting as space exploration, their minds get fired up, and their future gets brighter.

As the birthplace of American human spaceflight, Kennedy Space Center is a major central Florida tourist destination. Its stellar history begins with space pioneers circling the Earth in capsules smaller than a VW Bug to launches of monumental space shuttle expeditions. Astronauts have floated in open space, delivered satellites, conducted laboratory experiments, repaired space telescopes, and built a space station. The Space Mirror Memorial is located on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

https://www.amfcse.org/

Photo by JohnOwen848 used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. 

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is organized into Mission Zones where attractions and tours are grouped by chronological era. From the dawn of space exploration to current and ongoing missions, you can get an up-close, hands-on feel for the story of humans in space.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/

Rocket Garden

A Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket launched the aspirations of an entire country in 1961, when Alan Shepard completed the first U.S. human space flight. NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs are represented by this garden of giants, not just as engineering feats of technology, but also as tribute to the scientists and engineers who turned dreams of spaceflight into reality. 

While the visitor complex has grown exponentially over the years, the Rocket Garden has remained recognizable since it was first erected. When you tour among these giants, you are walking among incredible, authentic machines that pioneered America’s space exploration. Most of the rockets you see today are real, though never flown in space. Remember: in the early days of America’s space program, we did not reuse or retrieve rockets once they launched.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/blog/rocket-garden

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse

The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse has stood on the Cape for over 150 years. Situated amidst America’s Premier Gateway to Space, the lighthouse is owned by the United States Space Force and maintained as an active aid to navigation by the United States Coast Guard.

https://canaverallight.org/

Photo by James Humphreys under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is home to the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing. This is where many of today's rocket launches take place, but it's also the launch site of many American space pioneers including the first U.S. Earth satellite, the first U.S. astronaut, and the first U.S. astronaut in orbit, to name a few. 

Apollo/Saturn V Center

There are moments in American history that unified our country and shifted our culture. The Apollo Moon landings represent one of these pivotal periods. The Apollo/Saturn V Center pays homage to the people and machines that made the improbable possible and the future seem bigger than we ever dared to dream. There, stand in amazement under the gigantic Saturn V, the largest rocket ever flown. Through new interactive and engaging exhibits, relive the wonder and excitement of the Apollo era. This one-of-a-kind attraction celebrates the unprecedented achievement of putting humans on the Moon and the awe felt in that moment by all humankind.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/explore-attractions/race-to-the-moon

Harry T. and Harriette Moore Cultural Complex

The Harry T. and Harriette Moore Cultural Complex was developed to be a national civil rights resource and tourist center incorporating the latest technology and information management systems. The work of the center is in developing cooperative working relationships with academic, corporate, and cultural institutions throughout the nation and the world and to link the historical trail of the early civil rights pioneers and their effect on communities both large and small.

https://www.harryharriettemoore.org/

Photo credit Harry T. and Harriette Moore Cultural Complex

Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

The refuge traces its beginnings to the development of the nation’s Space Program. In 1962, NASA acquired 140,000 acres of land, water, and marshes adjacent to Cape Canaveral to establish the John F. Kennedy Space Center. NASA built a launch complex and other space-related facilities, but development of most of the area was not necessary. In1963 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed an agreement to establish the refuge, and in 1975 a second agreement established Canaveral National Seashore. Today, the Department of Interior manages most of the unused portions of the Kennedy Space Center as a National Wildlife Refuge and National Seashore.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Merritt_Island/