"3..2..1.. zero. Liftoff of the Falcon 9!”

In June, countdowns become popular along Cape Canaveral. Three rockets lifted off carrying pride for Brevard County.

"There is quite a bit going on,” says retired rocket engineer John Hilliard. “This is a very active year."

  • Air Force Space and Missile History Center is just outside Cape Canaveral AFS
  • Center pays tribute to launches, past and present
  • Air Force Space and Missile Museum is run by Air Force inside Cape Canaveral AFS

In a simple 1960s-era white block building, behind the SpaceX Florida complex, sits a center devoted to climbing higher.

"Everything from the wing type missiles to the ballistic missiles to the sub launch missiles and what has occurred from different steps from these launch complexes here at the Cape,” says Hilliard, a volunteer with the 45th Space Wing.

Hilliard volunteers his time and knowledge at the Air Force Space and Missile History Center, adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The gymnasium-sized center pays tribute, from the first launch in July 1950 with a German V2 upper-stage rocket to what launched last week.

"You can either put one or five solid motors on each Atlas, depends on the size of the payload,” Hilliard says while walking the exhibit floor.

Each launch pad has a display. The rockets and crew capsules are all documented. Videos, photos and artifacts adorn the walls.

"It actually all started here,” says the center's director and curator, Emily Perry. “If the Air Force hadn't done what they did here, NASA wouldn't be able to do what they do at Kennedy Space Center."

The Air Force Space and Missile History Center is free to the public and sits outside the armed gates of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

A second facility, however — The Air Force Space and Missile Museum — sits behind the gate and is still off-limits without planning ahead.

"You need a pass from PA (public affairs),” Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Lindsey says.

Visitors need to apply in advance and arrive in a group, providing their own bus. The phrase “B.Y.O.B.” here means “Bring Your Own Bus.”

The public affairs office at Cape Canaveral can arrange group tours that start at the “block house.” The reinforced cement building served as the control room for early rocket launches that took place just yards outside. In fact, the windows consist of a dozen panes of glass.

Inside the block house are exhibits dedicated to satellites, Barbara Eden of “I Dream of Jeannie” fame and the primates who were launched into orbit before people.

"Once you can see it, feel it and touch it, it's a different perspective than reading about it,” Lindsey says.

The two facilities are something Perry is proud to call "Brevard County's best kept secret."

Note: The Air Force Space and Missile History Center is free to visit but closed Mondays. Hours are as follows:

  • Tuesday-Friday: 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
  • Saturday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
  • Sunday: Noon-4 p.m.

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