The Air Force Space and Missile Museum is located at Launch Complex 26 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It includes artifacts from the early American space program and includes an outdoor area displaying rockets, missiles, and space-related equipment chronicling the space and missile history of the US Air Force, the US Space Force and other military branches. The museum is accessible to the public as a part of the "Cape Canaveral Early Space Tour" offered by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex four days per week. Free tours were also offered by the former Air Force 45th Space Wing Community Relations office until June 2013. The 45th Space Wing became Space Launch Delta 45 in May 2021 following establishment of the Space Force. The Sands Space History Center, a companion to the museum, is open to the general public six days a week. The History Center is located just outside the south gate of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Sands Space History Center

The Sands Space History Center (formerly known as the United States Air Force Space and Missile History Center) is an extension of the Air Force Space and Missile Museum outside the gate 1 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station which opened to the public August 14, 2010. It is located in a facility and highlights the progress and history of the space program. Brevard Business News. ''Air Force's Missile History Center opens, showcases many exhibits'' (Melbourne, Florida: Brevard Business News, September 06, 2010), p. 4. The museum features displays which chronicle the story of each of the launch pads from its establishment in 1949 as the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. Exhibits contain artifacts dating back to the 1950s and include parts to launch vehicles and control systems. Unlike the Air Force Space and Missile Museum, its sister museum which is located inside gates of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the center does not require special arrangements or a fee-based tour to visit. Admission is free and it is open to the public six days per week. As of 2017, it is open 9AM-2PM Tuesday through Friday, 9AM-5PM Saturday, and noon-4PM Sunday.

Hangar C

During the museum's early history, an extensive outdoor display (much of which included once flight-capable hardware), known as the "Rocket Garden" provided a large, open-air exhibit area. Over the years, the central Florida heat, humidity, and ocean air gradually took their toll, degrading the outward appearance and internal structure of most of the exhibits. One-by-one, these degrading artifacts were removed from outdoor display, professionally refurbished, and returned to a pristine (almost "factory new") appearance. Not wanting to repeat the process, the museum placed them in protective storage (out of public view) until such time as a suitable display area could be secured. Toward the end of this years-long process, historic Hangar C was secured as the future public display area. The oldest hangar on the Cape (Hangars A and B were built on Patrick Space Force Base), for a time served as a central missile assembly facility for nearly all Cape launch activity. Once it was determined that Hangar C would serve as a central display area for much of the museum's large artifacts, it underwent extensive renovation to make it suitable for public access. In early 2020 public tours conducted by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex began making stops at Hangar C as part of the newly introduced "Rise to Space" tour (separate and distinct from the "Early Space" tour). The museum provides a volunteer staff, many of whom are seasoned space and missile professionals, to act as exhibit interpreters.

Gallery

File:LC26.jpg, Rocket garden before artifact relocation File:Gemini2x.jpg,

Gemini 2 Gemini 2 (Gemini-Titan 2; GT-2) was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini, and was launched and recovered on January 19, 1965. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an uncrewed mission intended as a test fligh ...

spacecraft File:GeminiBP.jpg, Boilerplate version of

Gemini spacecraft Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

(now on display in Hangar C) File:EMDSW8.jpg, EMD SW8 switching locomotive from the U.S. Air Force

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

program;

LC-19 Launch Complex 19 (LC-19) is a deactivated launch site on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida used by NASA to launch all of the Gemini crewed spaceflights. It was also used by uncrewed Titan I and Titan II missiles. LC-19 was in ...

white room at right (interior not accessible) File:Rocket Garden Delta II.jpg, Delta launch as seen from rocket garden File:GPS monitor station.jpg,

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

ground monitor station File:LC-26 blockhouse.jpg, LC-26 blockhouse, now housing part of the museum File:LC-26B Thor-Able.jpg, Thor-Able (now on display in Hangar C)Museum
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References

External links

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Museum outside base at gate 1

Air Force Space and Missile Museum Factsheet
Official factsheet prepared by the U.S. Air Force. *Fan sites
Air Force Space and Missile Museum

Virtual Tour

{{DEFAULTSORT:Air Force Space and Missile Museum Aerospace museums in Florida Air force museums in the United States Cape Canaveral Space Force Station History centers Military and war museums in Florida Museums in Brevard County, Florida Space-related tourist attractions Museums established in 1966 1966 establishments in Florida

Sands Space History Center

Hangar C

Gallery

See also

References

External links