Space Coast: An Out-of-This-World Trip

Chris Sherman | 5/1/2009

Jules Verne was wrong, but not by much. In “From the Earth to the Moon” (1865), he portrayed Americans launching their first rocket from an isolated frontier outpost called Tampa Town.

Of course, for the last 50 years the actual launch pads have been 120 miles away from Tampa at Cape Canaveral, and the Atlantic shore is scheduled to rock with a couple of blastoffs this spring. No Florida stay-cation takes you farther away.

Shuttle Discovery blasts off March 15 from Kennedy Space Center. [Photo: NASA]

After decades of launches, the thrill may be gone for the TV audience and many politicians, but thousands still love the explosive charge of seeing a launch up close. When shuttle Discovery took off March 15 for the international space station, hundreds of campers filled every RV and tent site at Jetty Park on the north end of Cocoa Beach.

Some 25,000 space-watchers filled the Kennedy Space Center’s visitors complex itself, with countless more in other campgrounds and motels in Cocoa and Titusville and lining causeways and beaches.

If you want to catch a launch live, spring’s a good time. The weather is good and there’s a double-header, one shuttle launch and a rocket to the moon . At most, eight more manned missions will launch from Kennedy before the shuttle is retired in 2010.

If weather delays a launch, the pumped up visitors complex provides more than a day of fantasy jet fuel to recharge any space buff — $40 for adults, so start the day early. Even the rocket garden of those old pioneer missiles is lit in hot and cool blue. You can climb in capsules, strap yourself in for an IMAX shuttle launch or chat with someone who’s been there: An astronaut is on site every day. For an extra treat, sign up for a guided tour or a program of astronaut training in space suits and simulators — for teens or families, prices start at $125.

Anyone who comes to the Space Coast will see a stretch of coast bursting with wildlife and great terrestrial views. Federal security precautions keep much of the area pristine and ideal for bird-watching.

And fishing off Canaveral puts you in the home of the now fashionable rock shrimp — and lots of crab, mullet and scallops.

Bernard’s Surf, the watering hole that once fed Right Stuff astronauts and anchormen with antelope and grasshopper, now focuses on local seafood at three locations. In cracker scrub outside Titusville, Dixie Crossroads is a tin-roof temple to shrimp, rock, royal red, pinks, grays and browns depending on the season and boat runs. For more urbane tastes, Cocoa Village in the old downtown has a sizable payload of diverse restaurants and odd shops.

Space Targets May 2: Astronaut Hall of Fame induction May 12: Shuttle Atlantis launches on its final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. June 2: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launches to study possible moon landing sites.

Tags: Dining & Travel