The Space Coast – Titusville, Melbourne, and Cocoa Beach - holds a special place in the imagination of the United States as the home of the US space program. The city of Titusville is home to Kennedy Space Center, which along with the Johnson Space Center in Houston, is the hub of NASA’s space exploration program. The Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor’s Center houses the US Astronaut Hall of Fame and the US Space Walk Hall of Fame, as well as several exhibits of rockets and other space exploration equipment, and two IMAX screens. The Center is about six miles away from the launch pad, and is the closest point from which spectators can view one of the highly impressive shuttle launches.

The Space Coast is not just famous for space exploration. Cocoa Beach is well known as a destination for surfers, with the waves of the Atlantic Ocean offering many opportunities for surfers both expert and novice alike to enjoy this well-loved sport. Never surfed before? Not a problem! Experienced surfers will teach you how to surf in one of the area’s many surfing schools, such as the school offered through the legendary Ron Jon’s Surf Shop. Waterskiing and parasailing are also very popular along Cocoa Beach’s six miles of pristine sandy beach. The Cocoa Beach Pier is the center of Cocoa Beach’s surf culture, with any number of major surfing competitions taking place around the pier.

The Space Coast is rich in natural beauty, and many guides are available for tours throughout the area. One such tour is Space Coast Nature Tours, with its custom-built boats meant to provide the best possible view of the Indian River Lagoon and its diverse ecosystem, which is home to endangered species such as the manatee. Nationally protected parks are all over the area, thanks to NASA. The space agency originally took over more land than it needed, but rather than parcel it off to private owners, these areas of land were turned into pristine national parks – the Canaveral National Seashore and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The area recently built its first zoo, the Brevard Zoo, which prides itself on ground-breaking conservation education. Visitors to this zoo, which is located in Melbourne, will enjoy feeding the giraffes, spending hands-on time with the animals in the petting zoo, and taking a guided kayak tour throughout the zoo’s 22 acres of restored wetlands.

For more infomation, please visit the official website of the Florida's Space Coast.