All You Need to Know About the Kennedy Space Center

Tracing the Legacy: From Concept to Launchpad

• In September 1961, NASA sought to purchase land on Merritt Island to support the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. This land eventually became the Kennedy Space Center we know today.
  
• In March 1962, the Launch Operations Center (LOC) was established as an independent NASA field center located on Merritt Island.
  
• In November 1963, President Lyndon Johnson announced that the facilities of the Launch Operations Center and Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range as the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
  
• The NASA Kennedy Space Center Headquarters building was formally opened on May 26, 1965. 
  
• The ​Visitor Complex at NASA Kennedy Space Center Florida began when NASA Administrator James Webb established self-guided for the public to drive along predetermined routes through the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
  
• As the American Space Program grew in popularity, more and more people were interested in getting a close up view of the Kennedy Space Center and its operations.
  
• The government urged Webb to create a dedicated visitors’ program and by 1964 more than 250,000 self-guided car tours took place at the Kennedy Space Center.
  
• Over the years, with more funding, the Visitor Complex was expanded to include more attractions and increase visitor footfall.

​Read more about how KSC became what it is today