posted 05-13-2015 07:19 PM               

The Then and Now tour took guests to Launch Complex 26, the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, Launch Complex 5/6, the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse and Launch Complex 34.

posted 05-13-2015 10:00 PM               

We have taken that tour numerous times over the past 30 years of visiting KSC but always seem to enjoy it. Regretfully, in recent years, they have removed Launch Complex 14 (Mercury orbital missions) and Complex 19 (Gemini missions) from the tour. I inquired about this and was told by a KSC tour guide that the heavy tour buses are no longer allowed to travel on the access roads to these launch pads because the roads are not in the best of shape and were not designed to handle those heavy bus traffic loads.

The tour buses used to be allowed to travel by the Complex 14 blockhouse and actually circle the launch pad. You can still get a brief glimpse of the Complex 19 blockhouse from the main road.

posted 06-11-2015 01:54 PM            

I just called the KSC visitor center this morning, June 11 and the gal answering did not know anything about it — didn't even know it was suspended. I figure she was perhaps a counter sales worker. Any rate I hope and trust the tour will be back in service by October when I visit.

First time for me to visit the Space Coast, a NASA space nut who used to camp out in front of the rabbit eared tv set for days watching all I could of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. Really want to get to the Canaveral Air Force Museum, I'm more interested in that then whats at KSC.

posted 11-11-2015 07:53 AM               

The website for the Air Force Space and Missile museum, one of the stops on the (former) Then & Now tour, still states:

Due to heightened security at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Museum located at Launch Complex 26 is temporarily unavailable to visitors and bus tours.

posted 11-12-2015 06:06 PM               

I and others have reached out through various elected officials trying to bring attention to the situation. So far, no results. The elected officials did contact the Cape commander's office, but were not successful in convincing them to resume the tour.

For what it's worth, we researched the status of tours on other space-related USAF bases. The Cape is the only one that refuses to permit any tours.

posted 12-30-2015 08:45 PM               

Tours of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse and other sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will be conducted on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 8:30 a.m., departing from Exploration Tower in Port Canaveral in air-conditioned buses. The three-hour tour will cost $27 per person.

...in addition to the lighthouse, the tours include stops at Air Force Space and Missile History Center and at two historic launch complexes, as well as a drive by others. The tour also includes admission to Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral.

"Additionally, we have partnered with NASA's Delaware North contractor to provide historic CCAFS tours as a way to allow access to historic sites for folks from around the world who can see where space history began and continues today," Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the 45th Space Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, said.

posted 02-03-2016 10:33 AM               

Tour stops include:

• Launch Complex 26: The launch site of Explorer 1 where the blockhouse retains the authentic consoles used to launch America’s first Redstone rockets.

• Air Force Space & Missile Museum: Browse artifacts, including an authentic German V-2 rocket engine, as well as models and displays recounting America’s first missiles, satellites and launch vehicles.

• Launch Complex 5/6: Alan Shepard made history as the first American to launch into space from here on May 5, 1961. Inside the blockhouse, everything is just as it was that historic day more than 50 years ago.

• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, home of many space-related landmarks, also includes a barely noticeable domed bunker a short distance from the road. The remains of Space Shuttle Challenger — which broke apart 73 seconds into flight STS-51-L — were laid to rest here.

• Cape Canaveral Lighthouse is the striped landmark which led to the turn of events responsible for locating America’s space program at Cape Canaveral.

• Launch Complex 14: John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, launched from here.

• Launch Complex 19: Site of 10 successful crewed Gemini missions.

• Launch Complex 34: Three astronauts – Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee – lost their lives in a capsule fire during a test for Apollo 1 on Jan. 27, 1967.

posted 02-03-2016 10:10 PM               

The announcement appears to indicate that Launch Complexes 14 and 19 will now be stops on the tour. Can you confirm this? Will guests now be allowed to disembark the bus at these stops, as is permitted at other stops on the tour?

During past tours, only once, as I recall, did the bus actually leave the main road and travel on the access road to the blockhouse and circle the Pad at Complex 14. In recent years, I was told by a KSC tour guide that the heavy tour buses were no longer allowed to travel down the access roads, since the old roadways were not in the best of shape and were not designed to handle the weight of a large bus loaded with tourists.

As far as Complex 19 is concerned, I was told that, due to environmental contamination at the site, no public access was available. It's my understanding that a clean-up of the site was completed in recent years so, hopefully, they might now allow the tours to have access to it again.