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Is it hard to get tickets? How much do they cost?

SEJeff 8y ago
It wasn't hard to get tickets, you just had to get them as soon as they went on sale directly from Kennedy Space Center: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/events-calendar/2019/april/rocket-launch-spacex-falcon-heavy-arabsat-6a https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/event... I bought them from their website and it was $195 / ticket? It came with a pretty respectable lunch, a shuttle tour of KSC, and a single day full pass to explore KSC. Also, the announcer there in person was Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He spent much of the time talking about the Planetary Society's Light Sail project and all about SpaceX. They had a DJ and it was a pretty well organized event. My wife and I went to the launch, explored Orlando for a day, and then went to KSC as we figured all of the Falcon Heavy people would go to KSC the day after the launch. It was perfect! My wife wasn't a huge space fan before and this turned her into one, I highly recommend it!
- jrockway 8y ago
  My group bought our tickets a few days before the launch and there was no availability problem. I think the tickets are expensive enough that they don't sell out, but I could be wrong only having done it once. We ended up not seeing the launch and eating the cost because of the delay, but I knew that going in.
aerophilic 8y ago
One note: tickets sell out really fast, i Believe I heard within the first half hour. I second though getting there to be apart of it is incredible. One final note: seems like SpaceX is a bit superstitious, they didn’t sell the mission badges until after launch.
- SEJeff 8y ago
  I didn't realize that, but Reddit's r/SpaceX community is generally really ontop of those things, so I saw it there and just bought tickets. Then convinced the wife we should go and worked on travel arrangements. She was just in awe of it all as I was.
  - Rebelgecko 8y ago
    How did that work out with the launch delays? Did you just plan on being in the area long enough to be there for any subsequent attempts?
    - ChikkaChiChi 8y ago
      I was planning on going, but decided against it after watching the weather reports and figuring the model would add more unpredictability than I wanted. If work wasn't so crazy, I would have booked a few extra days to cover possible scrubs, and I would recommend anyone else flying in do the same.
    - aerophilic 8y ago
      What I personally did was take the full week off. Buying a one way ticket there. If it had gone on schedule, we would either have done a “different” trip, or simply come home for a “staycation”. In general, I would not plan for it to go when it says it will. Also, another helpful hint: it won’t go earlier than 3-4 days after the static fire. One option would be not to book flights till the static fire actually occurs.
    - SEJeff 8y ago
      I planned the trip for 3 days to get the primary and backup launch dates. The first day we did the launch, the second day we went to some Orlando nature preserves (shoutout to Gatorland), and the third day we spent exploring Kennedy Space Center.
  - mattrp 8y ago
    Agreed r/Spacex is awesome - like Hacker News for all things space.
AshleyGrant 8y ago
I bought my Feel the Heat tickets on the KSC website Monday evening, two days before the original launch date (well, one day after the No Earlier Than (NET) date). Feel the Heat tickets were still available through the website at least on Tuesday night as well.
mattrp 8y ago
It’s not hard to get tickets but there are a ton of viewing options that are free - and no one is truly close - at best you’re still miles away. I wouldn’t sweat the location - just go!
- SEJeff 8y ago
  I'd sort of disagree with you on this. The Apollo / Saturn V center is a few miles from pad 39A (where they launch) and 41 (where they land), however you have nothing between but some water and you have a flawless view of both launch and landing. Most of the other viewing areas have parts of either the launch or landing partially to completely obscured. That said, you're spot on! It is a huge rocket and you can see it from miles in every direction. Go see it!

It wasn't hard to get tickets, you just had to get them as soon as they went on sale directly from Kennedy Space Center: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/events-calendar/2019/april/rocket-launch-spacex-falcon-heavy-arabsat-6a https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/event... I bought them from their website and it was $195 / ticket? It came with a pretty respectable lunch, a shuttle tour of KSC, and a single day full pass to explore KSC. Also, the announcer there in person was Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He spent much of the time talking about the Planetary Society's Light Sail project and all about SpaceX. They had a DJ and it was a pretty well organized event. My wife and I went to the launch, explored Orlando for a day, and then went to KSC as we figured all of the Falcon Heavy people would go to KSC the day after the launch. It was perfect! My wife wasn't a huge space fan before and this turned her into one, I highly recommend it!

jrockway 8y ago
My group bought our tickets a few days before the launch and there was no availability problem. I think the tickets are expensive enough that they don't sell out, but I could be wrong only having done it once. We ended up not seeing the launch and eating the cost because of the delay, but I knew that going in.

aerophilic 8y ago

One note: tickets sell out really fast, i Believe I heard within the first half hour. I second though getting there to be apart of it is incredible. One final note: seems like SpaceX is a bit superstitious, they didn’t sell the mission badges until after launch.

SEJeff 8y ago
I didn't realize that, but Reddit's r/SpaceX community is generally really ontop of those things, so I saw it there and just bought tickets. Then convinced the wife we should go and worked on travel arrangements. She was just in awe of it all as I was.
- Rebelgecko 8y ago
  How did that work out with the launch delays? Did you just plan on being in the area long enough to be there for any subsequent attempts?
  - ChikkaChiChi 8y ago
    I was planning on going, but decided against it after watching the weather reports and figuring the model would add more unpredictability than I wanted. If work wasn't so crazy, I would have booked a few extra days to cover possible scrubs, and I would recommend anyone else flying in do the same.
  - aerophilic 8y ago
    What I personally did was take the full week off. Buying a one way ticket there. If it had gone on schedule, we would either have done a “different” trip, or simply come home for a “staycation”. In general, I would not plan for it to go when it says it will. Also, another helpful hint: it won’t go earlier than 3-4 days after the static fire. One option would be not to book flights till the static fire actually occurs.
  - SEJeff 8y ago
    I planned the trip for 3 days to get the primary and backup launch dates. The first day we did the launch, the second day we went to some Orlando nature preserves (shoutout to Gatorland), and the third day we spent exploring Kennedy Space Center.
- mattrp 8y ago
  Agreed r/Spacex is awesome - like Hacker News for all things space.

AshleyGrant 8y ago

I bought my Feel the Heat tickets on the KSC website Monday evening, two days before the original launch date (well, one day after the No Earlier Than (NET) date). Feel the Heat tickets were still available through the website at least on Tuesday night as well.

mattrp 8y ago

It’s not hard to get tickets but there are a ton of viewing options that are free - and no one is truly close - at best you’re still miles away. I wouldn’t sweat the location - just go!

SEJeff 8y ago
I'd sort of disagree with you on this. The Apollo / Saturn V center is a few miles from pad 39A (where they launch) and 41 (where they land), however you have nothing between but some water and you have a flawless view of both launch and landing. Most of the other viewing areas have parts of either the launch or landing partially to completely obscured. That said, you're spot on! It is a huge rocket and you can see it from miles in every direction. Go see it!