"Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex" opens June 15 and offers interactive exhibits with spaceflight hardware and a ride. MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. - Walking into the new experience at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is like a gateway to the future of space exploration.
Look down, and moon craters are under your feet. In front of you, NASA’s Orion spacecraft zooms around the moon. Quickly, that all dissolves, and you’ll see the James Webb Space Telescope or Mars or a distant galaxy.
It could be easy to stay inside the colorful entry to the "Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex" experience, but that is just a greeting. HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER ON TVThe new exhibit opens to the public on June 15, and a preview is available to KSC Visitor Complex pass holders on June 1.
Behind the rocket garden, the 50,000-square-foot attraction is layered with finds on every building level, including spaceflight hardware any space fan would enjoy getting that close up with.In front is NASA's Orion spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin that launched on a test flight in 2014.Lockheed Martin Artemis-3 production planner Barry Bohnsack said the spacecraft flew ten times further than the distance of the International Space Station, and its dark tiles reflect the heat it experienced returning to Earth."You can see it's still charred up on the thermal protection tiles, similar to the space shuttle," Bohnsack said, adding Orion also has an added heat shield. "When you return from the moon, it's gonna be much, much hotter, so it's going to get up to 25,000 mph and get 1,000 degrees hotter than the space shuttle."Look up, and a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster that launched on a Falcon Heavy is suspended from the ceiling.