The security precautions have changed a lot since 9/11/01.
In the good old days, the Tour Buses used to go right up to the Launch Pad, then you all got off the bus with a guide. I don't know if the buses go that close nowadays.
We were extra fortunate because my dad-in-law worked at KSC for 22 years, it was his second career after being in the US Navy 21 years. He was an engineer on all the space shots from 1961 to 1983, he worked on the LEM too. He worked on the first Shuttle Tests, and the first Shuttle flights including STS-6 which was the first time for a Spacewalk. Sadly, that was Challenger, which 3 years later exploded with the loss of 7 lives.
Even after he retired, we used to get VIP tours. Then after he passed away, I wrote to the Director and enclosed a copy of Dad's ID.
We were invited on the Director's Bus for a shuttle launch. It happened to be when Tom Hanks was about to make "Apollo 13" and he was on our bus.
So we were as close as a human can get to the launch, about 3 miles away.
It is an unforgettable experience. I've seen several launches, and each one is just as thrilling as the others.
Dad gave all his memorabilia to us. Each mission he helped with, he got a certificate of thanks with a photo and signatures of the astronauts. In the case of the Apollo-Soyuz shots, he got the cosmonauts too.
Our favourite is the one from the
real Apollo 13 astronauts, which says "Thank you for helping launch the LEM "lifeboat" which saved our lives and returned us safely to earth."
Yes, it's worth a visit, especially on a launch day.
But be aware the roads around KSC are jammed solid on launch day, from the early hours of the morning, and getting out of there afterwards requires a lot of patience, with nothing else planned. Best plan is to stay nearby, but you would need to book well in advance. If it's a morning launch, stay the night before.....if it's late afternoon or evening, stay that night in Cape Canaveral, Titusville, or Cocoa Beach.
There is a nice B&B in Mims, just North of KSC, owned by the British ex-band leader of the QE2 and his wife. It's closed for renovation just now. It's called The Dickens Inn.
The most spectacular launches are just before sunrise, or just after sunset.
The worst part of going to a launch is.....they have to be very careful of course, and ANYTHING can happen to cancel the launch, right up to the last second. It only takes an idiot in a boat to wander into the no-go-area, and all that anticipation and excitement is for naught......
We can see the shuttle rising into the sky from our house in Orlando, but there is nothing like being at KSC for it.