Your real-time guide to Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral and Port Canaveral, Florida.
Cocoa Beach is the closest beach community to Kennedy Space Center — 12 miles south on SR-528 or a scenic drive down A1A. It has the full beach experience: surf, restaurants, bars, live music, fishing charters and shopping. After a morning at KSC, an afternoon at Cocoa Beach is the obvious and perfect move.
Kennedy Space Center launches rockets from pads you can see clearly from Cocoa Beach. SpaceX Falcon 9 launches happen every few weeks. The view from the public beach is free, dramatic, and something most people never forget. Check the live tracker for the next scheduled launch.
Port Canaveral is 5 miles north of the KSC visitor center. It's one of the busiest cruise ports in the world — you can watch massive ships coming and going from the Jetty Park observation area for free. Sport fishing charters, waterfront restaurants and the Cape Marina are all here.
Adjacent to Kennedy Space Center, the Merritt Island refuge is one of the most biodiverse wildlife areas in the eastern US. Manatees, alligators, bald eagles, sea turtles and more than 330 bird species share the same habitat as rocket launch pads. Free entry, open daily, extraordinary birding especially in winter.
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