This blog features out of date information about the Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour. It is available for archival purposes. For the latest information on the available bus tours, visit Behind the Gates.
The number one question at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is “Where is the bus tour?”. The visitor complex, as it stands today, started with the growing public interest in bus tours during the dawn of America’s space program. You can learn more about our history here. Today, the Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour is the only way you can gain access to NASA’s restricted areas, with sites both rooted in history and instrumental in the future of space exploration.
How do you take a bus tour?
As a guest with daily admission, you may take the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Bus Tour for no additional cost. Because the bus tour is included with daily admission, you will catch a bus from inside the visitor complex entrance and board one of our tour buses, and they run continuously throughout the day. How do you get to the bus tour? This may help:
Once on the bus, prepare for about a 40-minute tour through NASA’s property. Launching into the next era of space exploration, the Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour has been updated to take you behind NASA’s gates like never before. Follow space guide Emily Calandrelli as she visits some of the most mission-critical areas of Kennedy Space Center. You will pass monumental sites within NASA’s gates, usually including the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Complex 39 and all of the facilities in between. Of course, because Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are both working launch facilities, the tour routes may be altered at any time with or without any notice. Check the Daily Schedule once on site for any changes. Bus tours are typically altered most frequently on launch days.
At the conclusion of the bus tour, you will be dropped off at the Apollo/Saturn V Center where NASA’s Project Apollo comes to life. Tour at your own pace, exploring the many exhibits. When you are ready, board another bus that will take you back to the main visitor complex. Generally, we recommend you plan for a 2-hour round trip when taking the bus tour and exploring the Apollo/Saturn V Center.
Looking for more?
If you want to not only see but actually step foot in some exclusive areas, there are 2 Special Interest Tours that you may add in to your day for an additional price:
- Explore Tour – 2 hours long; perfect for all ages who want unparalleled camera stops
- Cape Canaveral Early Space Tour – 3 hours long; take a step back into the launch pads of Project Mercury and early Apollo. This tour is great for history and space buffs, though not typically recommended for younger audiences.
- Buy a Special Interest Tour Ticket
Regardless, Kennedy Space Center insiders will always recommend you take the time out of your day for the bus tour. The visitor complex is a full day experience, and this tour is a long-time guest favorite. Plus, you never know what’s new out there and you may be the first to see it!
Buy Daily Admission
More Attraction Spotlight Blogs:
- Attraction Spotlight: Heroes and Legends, Featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
- Attraction Spotlight: Sneak Peek of the Cape Canaveral's Rise to Space Tour
- Attraction Spotlight: Apollo/Saturn V Center
- Attraction Spotlight: Sliding Back to Earth in Space Shuttle Atlantis