Space View Park and the U.S. Space Walk of Fame
Titusville dedicated Space View Park on the Indian River in July 1994. The U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation built its monuments to the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle programs between 1995 and 2014, with the names of the workers who built them.
Space View Park is Titusville’s riverfront park for watching launches and remembering the people who made them. The city dedicated it in July 1994, according to the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation, and the park sits at 8 Broad Street in downtown Titusville, near the site of the original settlement. The city describes it as less than 15 miles directly across the Indian River from the launch pads.
Along the river walk stand the foundation’s monuments: one each for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle programs, and an “In the Line of Duty” monument to the space workers and astronauts who died in the program. The base of each program monument carries the names of the people who worked on it.
A doctor’s letter
The park began with a letter. In 1988, the foundation says, a local physician wrote to the Titusville City Council suggesting a project to preserve space history and honor the men and women of the space program. The city was redeveloping its downtown riverfront at the time, and the council and the Titusville Community Redevelopment Agency took up the idea. The non-profit U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation formed to carry it out, built the monuments, plaques and handprints, and gave them to the city.
The foundation quotes Alan Shepard, who said on May 13, 1996, “We need to remember the people who made it possible; so little is said of them.”
The monuments, one program at a time
The foundation lists when each went up:
| Monument | Groundbreaking | Dedication |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury | May 12, 1995 (mission logos unveiled May 23, 1997) | |
| Gemini | July 19, 1996 | November 7, 1997 |
| Apollo | July 16, 1999, at 9:32 a.m. | May 2007 |
| Shuttle | May 2012 | November 2014 |
The Apollo groundbreaking was timed to the minute of Apollo 11’s liftoff 30 years earlier and opened a week-long anniversary celebration. The Shuttle monument’s name pylons filled up, and the foundation says another is planned.
The park also displays bronze tablets with the handprints of six of the original seven Mercury astronauts, according to the city’s preservation board, along with the handprints and autograph of Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11’s lunar module pilot, and plaques on space history and individual missions.
Watching from the park
The park is open from dawn to dusk, with special arrangements for scheduled launches. The city’s page describes river views of the launch pads and a live audio feed from NASA’s control room. The foundation’s American Space Museum, also in downtown Titusville, holds its exhibits.
Further Reading
- Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race by Jay Barbree
- The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Sources
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