Cape Canaveral has a long history of government service. As far back as 1949 President Harry S. Truman created the Joint Long Range Proving Grounds to serve as a testing site for missiles. From these early days the facilities at Cape Canaveral eventually transformed into the Kennedy Space Center that we know today, the central point of Florida's Space Coast. The facility was renamed for President Kennedy, whose famous call for manned flight to the moon within the 1960's led to the successful 1969 moon landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Many visitors to Florida's space coast of course want to get an up-close and personal look at the Keenedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. This is made possibly by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, which showcases a number of museums, two IMAX theaters and takes visitors on tours of the facilities allowing them to get a close up view of the workings of one of the United States' most important space centers.
Seeing rockets shooting up into the air from the Kennedy Space Center while visiting Florida's space coast is not uncommon. If you're interested in being in the area for a launch there are plenty of web sites online that give information of the newest launch news. One good site is found at www.space-coast.com. You can also check out floridatoday.com, a news site servicing Florida's space coast and giving all the news and happenings in the area, not just the space news.
Florida's space coast is not called a coast for nothing, and visitors can also have great fun exploring the beaches of the coast. Situated on the Atlantic ocean the space coast is a great place for swimming, kayaking, parasailing, windsurfing and much more. Many of the towns and cities on Florida's space coast, including Titusville, Cocoa, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne and Palm Bay cater to the many tourists who visit the space coast every year.
Ecotourism has grown quite popular in Florida's space coast in recent years. One of the most popular pastimes in the area is space coast birding. Every January since 1997 there has been an annual space coast birding festival for visitors to experience the unique avian wildlife who come to visit the space coast for winter. 2007 will be the 10th annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival.
Many bird species come to visit the space coast every year, and birdwatchers come to the festival see what forms of new wildlife they can spot. The official web site of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival can be found at http://www.nbbd.com/fly/ and lists the dozens of species whose sightings have been recorded at previous festivals.
The festival also has a number of competitions, including a photography contest, a painting contest as well as a sculpture and model contest. Come for the birds and show off your artistic abilities in participating in these great competitions. Total prizes for the contest exceed $1,300 every year, with $200 going to the winners of each category.