‘See your spaceport’: Project Apollo and the origins of Kennedy Space Center tourism, 1963–67

Abstract

This article argues that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) deployed tourism as a key public relations strategy during preparations for Project Apollo. NASA appropriations hearings in 1963 catalysed a national debate over the tangible benefits and costs of sending Americans to the moon. American ambivalence towards the effort alarmed Democratic Representative Olin E. Teague of Texas, chairman of the powerful House Subcommittee on Manned Spaceflight, who understood the correlation between public opinion and congressional appropriations. Inspired by the crowds that congregated on the beaches outside Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for each crewed space launch, Teague proposed a tourism programme to encourage public support for NASA’s objectives. Public affairs officers facilitated these programmes at KSC, beginning with a modest information trailer in 1964 and culminating in a Visitor Information Center in 1967 that included an exhibition hall, outdoor displays and depot facilitating escorted bus tours. The space centre quickly became a popular attraction: however, a culture of racial discrimination and intimidation in Brevard County deterred African Americans from participating in space centre tourism. Public programming at KSC – an important legacy of Project Apollo that continues today – was not the panacea Teague and NASA hoped it would be.