Sixty years ago, July of 1966, was a heady year for America’s space program and Kennedy Space Center, both in space and on the ground. It saw a successful Gemini Program missions and the opening of Kennedy Space Center tours to the public.
Project Gemini built on the successes of Project Mercury and paved the way for the Apollo moon flights. Each Gemini capsule was crewed by two astronauts and so was named for the astrological twins. The Gemini flights saw the first spacewalks, the first dockings in space, and set new records for altitude and time in space.
The final five flights of Gemini took place in 1966, Gemini VIII through Gemini XII. Gemini X launched on July 18, 1966, and splashed down on July 22, 1966.
Tours of Kennedy Space Center were an immediate success: 100K visitors in 3 months
Meanwhile, the day after splashdown, Kennedy Space Center opened to public bus tours. The tours were an immediate success. Within three months, nearly 100,000 visitors took the tours. The following year, a visitor center opened and welcomed its 500,000th visitor.
Some 2 million visitors come to the center each year. Tripadvisor’s 2025 Travelers’ Choice Award named Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex the top-ranked attraction in the US.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Kennedy Space Center celebrates 60 years of astronauts and tourists
Reporting by Mark Lane, Special to The News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Lane, Special to The News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
