The Space Coast is a region in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

around the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

(KSC) and

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

. It is one of several "themed" coasts around Florida. All orbital launches from American soil carrying NASA astronauts (running from

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

in 1961 to the end of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

program in 2011, and since 2020 using the

SpaceX Dragon 2 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consi ...

) have departed from either KSC or Cape Canaveral. The Space Force Station has also launched unmanned military and civilian rockets. Cities in the area include Port St. John, Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge,

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

Merritt Island Merritt Island is a peninsula, commonly referred to as an island, in Brevard County, Florida, United States, located on the eastern Florida coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the name of an unincorporated town in the central and sout ...

(unincorporated), Cocoa Beach,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic,

Melbourne Beach Melbourne Beach is a town in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, Metrop ...

, Palm Bay, and Viera (unincorporated). Much of the area lies within Brevard County. It is bounded on the south by the

Treasure Coast The Treasure Coast is a region in the southeast of the U.S. state of Florida. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and comprises Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. The region, whose name refers to the Spanish Treasure Fleet that was lost ...

, on the west by

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

including Orlando (and is economically tied to that region), on the north by Volusia County, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. One reason rockets are launched from the Space Coast has to do with the Earth's rotation. The Earth rotates from west to east, most quickly at the equator, and to take advantage of this, adding the speed of rotation to the orbital velocity of the rocket, it is most beneficial to launch eastward from a location near the equator. Launching from an uninhabited location on an easterly coast at low latitude, minimizing the danger posed by debris from a failed launch, is ideal both for the safety of the people on the ground and for

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...

of the rocket. Given the high population densities in coastal

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, South Florida, and Puerto Rico, the Space Coast is often considered the best location when all factors are taken into account.

Space-named landmarks (outside KSC and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station)

Many places near the Cape are named for subjects relating to the US space program including vehicles, astronauts, and the spaceport itself. *

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astr ...

Park, Cocoa Beach * Apollo Boulevard, Melbourne * Apollo Elementary School, Titusville * Armstrong Drive, Titusville * Astronaut Boulevard, Cape Canaveral * Astronaut High School, Titusville * Atlantis Elementary School, Port St. John * Bayside High School, Palm Bay * Challenger 7 Elementary School, Port St. John * Challenger Memorial Parkway, ( State Road 407), Titusville * Chaffee Drive, Titusville * Christa McAuliffe

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

, Merritt Island * Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, Palm Bay * Columbia Boulevard ( State Road 405), Titusville * Columbia Elementary School, Palm Bay * Columbia Village, Melbourne ( Florida Institute of Technology) * Discovery Elementary School, Palm Bay * Endeavour Elementary

Magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

, Cocoa * Enterprise Elementary School, Cocoa * Freedom 7 Elementary School, Cocoa Beach * Gemini Elementary School, Melbourne Beach * Grissom Parkway, Cocoa *

I Dream Of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy sitcom television series created by Sidney Sheldon and starring Barbara Eden as a beautiful but guileless 2,000-year-old Jinn, genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut with whom s ...

Drive, Cocoa Beach * John F. Kennedy Middle School, Rockledge * Jupiter Boulevard, Palm Bay * Kennedy Point Park, Titusville * MILA Elementary School, Merritt Island (an abbreviation for "Merritt Island Launch Area") * Minutemen Causeway, Cocoa Beach * NASA Boulevard ( State Road 508), Melbourne * Ronald McNair Middle Magnet School, Rockledge * Satellite Beach, Florida * Satellite Boulevard, Cocoa * Satellite High School, Satellite Beach * Shepard Drive, Titusville * Space Coast Jr./Sr. High School * Space Coast Stadium,

Viera, Florida Viera () is a planned community located in the central coastal region of Brevard County, Florida. It is part of an unincorporated section adjacent to the Melbourne, Florida area. However, Viera is actually much closer to Cocoa than to Melbourne. F ...

* Space Coast Surge, a member of the Florida Winter Baseball League played out of Cocoa in 2009 * Space View Park, Titusville *

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Drive, Titusville

Telephone area code

When the region became too heavily populated to be served by only one

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

, a local resident Robert Osband (aka Richard Cheshire) discovered that area code 321 was not assigned to any other territory (though it was being considered for the suburban Chicago area).This includes most of the county except the Southern portion. If each number is pronounced individually—"3, 2, 1"—the pronunciation resembles the countdown before liftoff; thus, the resident petitioned for the code to be assigned to the Space Coast region. His efforts were popular among local residents and resulted in success; the new code officially became effective on November 1, 1999.

Tourism

Because it is home to

and

the local area is popular with visitors to watch rocket launches in person. Over 100,000 people are believed to have been present in February 2018 for the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is home to

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus tou ...

, US Space Walk of Fame, and the Air Force Space and Missile Museum. Nearly 1 million people were present to watch the last space shuttle launch in 2011. 150,000 people were present for the Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch. The area is also home to many space-themed businesses. 750,000 to 900,000 people gathered on the space coast to watch the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

launch in 1969. The area also sees Christmas tourism, as thousands of people attend the Surfing Santas festival in Cocoa Beach (by Cape Canaveral) over the holiday season. Cocoa Beach attracts all types of people looking for a vacation because of the beachy location. A weekend here may have people stopping by a surf museum or shopping at a tiki gallery.

Media

''Brevard Business News'' is a weekly newspaper in

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

, United States covering business news and trends for the Space Coast. Fred Krupski started Brevard Business News in 1981,Mathers, Sandra
"She Mastered World Of Weekly Newspapers"
''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

'', April 18, 1997. Retrieved on May 26, 2011. and Adrienne B. Roth purchased it in 1986. Other media outlets serving the Brevard County community include the Florida Today, Space Coast Daily, Hometown News, Spectrum TV 13 and numerous radio stations. Several national TV network affiliates based in Orlando also cover Brevard County news.

Notes

References