Cape Canaveral, FL Summary

photo by gusto

Cape Canaveral, or “the Space Coast” as it is locally known, with the John F. Kennedy Space Center (on Merritt Island) at its core, is located in northeast Florida on the Atlantic Ocean. Melbourne is the nearest large city, but the much nearer Cocoa Beach is a better point from which to explore the cape.

In 1958 NASA took over more land than it required and, by 1964, turned over the balance to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve. Before NASA, the area was popular only with locals hoping to escape city life. Now thousands of tourists come to visit the space center each year, and to enjoy more than 72 miles of beaches.

The space center, on NASA Parkway, Hwy 405, is NASA’s primary space launch facility and offers an impressive array of tours, displays, and activities just for children. Visits begin at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. From here, shuttle buses take visitors on a 2-hour tour of the complex.

You should plan on spending the whole day if you want to see everything here. Spaceport USA has a Rocket Garden with rockets on display from each stage of America’s space program—it is still the site of weather and communications satellite launchings. Full-size models of a lunar rover and the Viking Mars lander and original spacecraft are on display inside the Gallery of Space Flight.

Shorebirds, waterfowl, reptiles, and alligators call Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge home. The preserve is 140,000 acres, and it features the 6-mile Black Point Wildlife Drive plus several nature trails. Admission is free.

The Canaveral National Seashore is a pristine 13-mile stretch of beach and marsh. It encloses Mosquito Lagoon, where dolphins and manatee play.

Herons, egrets, ibis, willets, sanderlings, turnstones, and terns are some of the bird species that live here and, between May and August, giant sea turtles also nest in the area. Camping with a permit is allowed here in winter, and a canoe trail is set in along the marshes of Shipyard Island.

Melbourne International Airport is to the south and Orlando International Airport is to the east. The only way to explore this area is by car. Local bus routes on the Space Coast Area Transit are very time consuming. Deep-sea fishing and charter boats depart from Port Canaveral. Cruise ships, bound for the Caribbean, depart frequently from Jetty Park in Port Canaveral.