Rocket launches have drawn visitors to the Space Coast for decades. With SpaceX, ULA, and NASA booking launch pads on an almost weekly basis, seeing a launch while you’re vacationing on the Space Coast is a high probability.
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There’s no definitive BEST place to see a launch. Florida’s Space Coast got its name partially because when there’s a launch, you can simply look up and see it. Check out the map on our Launches page to see some of the most popular launch viewing locations.
It is free to look up on the Space Coast and see a rocket launching. However there are several attractions, restaurants and hotels that offer premium launch viewings opportunities. Explore this blog to learn how to make the most of your Rocket Launch experience.
NASA and its partners (SpaceX, ULA, etc) decide the launch schedule out of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Coast Station. Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism has a policy to only announce a launch when it has been OFFICIALLY released to the public. We try our best to stay as up to date as possible on the officially released launch dates and times.
Launches can be scrubbed due to technical issues or inclement weather. Rockets are built to monitor and pick up on any abnormal operations, and when they pick up on something such as a small pressure drop or a bad sensor, the system will shut itself down. Additionally, rockets are not like airplanes in the sense that they can’t simply bypass a thunderstorm. In order to get to a certain orbit and location in space to perform the mission, they have to depart at a certain time and direction.
While we hope that every launch goes off as scheduled, scrubs are an unfortunate reality. Some launches have launch windows. For example, a launch may have a liftoff time of 9:00am with a 2 hour window. This means that the launch can go anytime between 9:00am and 11:00am, so it may not be a full scrub, the team may be doing some additional checks or waiting out the weather. Tune into that launch’s live feed (most launches have a live feed on YouTube) to stay up to date.Often, if it is not a catastrophic technical issue, the launch will be rescheduled very close to the original launch date (often the next day), and may still fall within your visit.Be careful when booking your accommodations, or purchasing launch viewing packages from local businesses, to read the scrub policy very carefully.
Most of the time. Canaveral National Seashore, the home of Playalinda Beach, is federal land and has its own rules and regulations. The National Park Service decides whether or not it is safe to be open during launches. The park is typically open during their normal operating hours for most launches, that decision is made on an individual launch basis. You can head to the Canaveral National Seashore website for more information on specific launches.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex often offers special launch viewing packages for major launches, that provide the closest launch viewing available to the public. For information on a specific launch, you can visit the KSCVC website for viewing options.
Jetty park offers a great opportunity to park your RV or enjoy the beach before and after a launch. For park information for specific launches you can visit the Port Canaveral Website.
