As part of a 10-year plan to update and modernize the John F. Kennedy Space Center, a 75-foot-long, 5,000-gallon fountain was constructed as a focal point of the Visitor Complex
The John F. Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, FL, was originally built to launch the Saturn V, to date the only launch vehicle to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit, for the Apollo manned moon landing program. Recently, a 10-year plan was set into motion to update and modernize the Space Center’s Visitor Complex. The new entry experience, retail shop and restaurant are the first phase of the plan, developed by PGAV Destinations of St. Louis, MO. The new entrance incorporates a grand entry plaza, a re-designed ticket station and a 75-foot-long, 5,000-gallon fountain.
The fountain, designed by Freeport Fountains of Sanford, FL, is lit in the evenings with LED lights programmed in sequence with 26 waterjets. An audio recording of an actual NASA lift-off also plays as the waterjets pulse to the blastoff sequence. The fountain’s backdrop is a 75-foot-long radial-shaped trapezoid, standing 30 feet tall at its highest point, featuring Blue Pearl granite supplied by Coldspring of Cold Spring, MN. For the project, 875 square feet of the granite was selected because it coordinates with NASA’s signature blue, and the polished finish provides an ideal surface for the laser etching that features a quote from President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 moon speech at Rice University.