Less than one hour from Orlando is NASA’s launch headquarters – the Kennedy Space Center. The visitor site offers a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the space program. Tour NASA’s launch headquarters, and see space shuttle launch pads from a four-story observation deck. Walk beneath a massive Saturn V moon rocket, and relive Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. Meet a real astronaut, stroll through the Rocket Garden, and enjoy five-story IMAX space films. The center also includes the space shuttle Atlantis, bringing visitors nose-to-nose with the priceless Atlantis spacecraft as only astronauts have seen it before.  More than 60 interactive, touchscreen experiences and high-tech simulators bring to life the people, passion and patriotism behind NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program. Explore the complexity of the engineering marvel that launched the Hubble Space Telescope and built the International Space Station (ISS). Guests can practice docking to the ISS, extract cargo from the payload bay, and create sonic booms and glide to a landing on the re-entry slide. They can also experience the sensation of floating in space, explore a high-fidelity replica of the ISS, experience an orbital sunrise, and take the helm at the shuttle cockpit. On your airboat ride, glide through the grassy marsh of the St. Johns River and Lake Poinsett at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. As the boat slows down to an idle you will have several opportunities to take pictures of local wildlife, such as alligators, eagles, and several species of wading birds by the hundreds. Then visit a natural cypress swamp.

Your tour to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex promises an exciting day for the whole family. Learn all about space travel on your visit to this amazing institution. During the narrated NASA bus tour, you will find yourself standing inside the launch control room and looking at an actual Saturn V rocket, the largest rocket ever to fly. You can also take pictures of the shuttle launch pads. With a little luck, you might even see a space shuttle there! Also at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, enjoy the Shuttle Launch Experience. This simulator ride began in May 2007 and replicates the sights, sounds, and feelings of a shuttle launch. Feel the incredible journey of launching into space and orbiting Earth from an astronaut's point of view. Guest Crew members strap in and go vertical for launch in a one-of-a-kind motion-based simulator, the only realistic simulation of a launch ever created. The 5-minute experience sequence culminates with a breath-taking view of the Earth. After the bus tour, sit back and enjoy an IMAX movie. Be sure to check out the new 3D IMAX Magnificent Desolation. Why not choose to stroll through a real-size space shuttle, look at a moon rock or try space ice cream? This is a day of fun for the whole family. Your tour includes a 30-minute airboat ride to discover the beauty of the nearby swamps! Look for exotic plants, flowers and wildlife including the most famous inhabitant of the swamp — the alligator.