Here's my review of the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex (KSCVC) 'Behind The Gates Tour (BTG)' which is included with daily admission. This tour will give you access to two viewing locations that are fairly close to the Artemis II rocket. The KSC Explore Tour gets closer, but tickets are hard to come by at this point.
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KSC EXPLORE TOUR GUIDE
above: Entering KSCVC you'll pass the Rocket Garden. I definitely recommend stopping by for a guided walk through with a knowledgeable docent who will tell you about these amazing vehicles.
below: Past the Rocket Garden and Gateway you'll see the Bus Tours transfer facility. This is where you'll go to get on your bus. If you're going on the KSC Explore Tour, you'll need to have your QR code or ticket ready to present. If you're going on the complimentary Behind The Gates (BTG) tour, just head on in and hop on the next available bus.
Look your best! Before you board the bus, there's a photo op with KSCVC's professional photographers.
Let's head out for your tour! The first stop for both the BTG and KSC Explore Tour is the LC-39 Gantry. Before we get there, we'll see the gigantic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
above: Pictured here is where the KSC Explore Tour will be stopping on the way back for passengers to get photos in front of the building. BTG passengers, have your camera ready, this is your closest view of the VAB.
below: At the gantry BTG passengers have unlimited time here. Once you've seen all you want, just get on any BTG bus and you'll head over to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.
From the LC-39 Gantry, you have a beautiful view out over all of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). Below are shots of the closest launch sites. Let's head up to the 4th floor and take a look around...
These tight zooms are all made with a 70-300mm zoom at 300mm
After exiting the elevator, head out onto the Gantry's exterior walkway...
above: On the left is United Launch Alliance (ULA) Payload Processing Facility (PPF). On the right, SpaceX's PPF, formerly known as the Solid Motor Assembly Building (SMAB). Far in the distance on the left is Blue Origin's facilities at Space Launch Complex (SLC) 36.
below: SLC-40, SpaceX Falcon 9 launches from here. The central tower contains an elevator and crew access arm for crewed missions using SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. The pad is surrounded by 4 lightning arrest towers. The building to the right is a Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF), where encapsulated payloads are mated to assembled rockets (first and second stages connected by an interstage) for launch. There are typically 2-3 rockets being assembled in these facilties at any given time.
above: ULA's Vertical Integration Facility (VIF). This is where the ULA core stage is mated to the Centaur second stage, solid rocket boosters (SRB's) are mounted on the core, and finally the encapsulated payload is mounted atop the rocket. All this work is completed vertically with cranes lifting the parts into the VIF.
below: The ULA launch pad at SLC-41 is about 1,800 ft (m) from the VIF, and the rocket (either Vulcan or Atlas) is transported there on a railroad-like car called a Mobile Launch Platform (MLP). Like the SpaceX facilities, the tower contains an elevator and crew access arm for personel launching in the Starliner capsule. Lightning arrest towers also compliment the pad's safety features.
Panning to the east - and we're still on The Gantry here - looking across at SpaceX's LC 39-A operations. At the left, the dark tower is the elevator and crew access tower and behind it the water tower. In the middle the massive Starship launch tower - Starship will be launching from KSC possibly by the end of this year! Finally on the right is the SpaceX HIF at LC 39-A.
below: Further north, your first 'good' view of LC 39-B with the SLS Artemis II rocket standing tall. You're 2.17 miles (3.5km) from the rocket here.
below: Facing west you'll be looking back at the VAB and the service tower for Artemis III.
WHEN WILL ARTEMIS II LAUNCH?
There are launch windows on February 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11. If Artemis cannot launch during that period, the next opportunity is March 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11, followed by opportunities in April 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Hopefully we'll see Artemis launch right at the opening of the first window, 9:41 pm on Friday, February 6. Launching a rocket to the moon sure would be a great way to start the weekend!
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