Kennedy Space Center in Fla. opens Vehicle Assembly Building to tours for 1st time since '78

The Associated Press

1:20 p.m. CDT, October 31, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Heads up, space fans.

Visitors to NASA's Kennedy Space Center now have the opportunity to see inside the colossal Vehicle Assembly Building, off-limits throughout the 30-year shuttle program.

Public bus tours last stopped at the VAB in 1978. They're resuming Nov. 1. The cost is an extra $25 per adult and $19 per child — on top of the usual admission charge.

The 525-foot-tall VAB was built to hold the Saturn V rocket that sent men to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It's where every space shuttle was attached to its external fuel tank and booster rockets, before flight.

Atlantis closed out the shuttle program in July, with the 135th mission.

NASA officials stress that the VAB tour stop is temporary — it will cease when the VAB is used once again to stack rockets for launch. The space agency is aiming to send astronauts to an asteroid and Mars in the decades ahead.

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Legal Tours to Cuba for Americans

Now that Insight Cuba, among other tour operators, are obtaining legal licenses to sell tours to Cuba, will your clients be interested in this new destination?

Travelers often are looking for new destinations, and many are really excited about a travel destination that has been forbidden in the past.

Insight Cuba has several tour choices and many dates available for tours to Cuba. These are now legal due to a more lenient measure by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets to issue licenses to some tour operators.

There are rules that must be followed in order to obtain these licenses that are meant to get to know the cultures and people of Cuba.

For travel agents with clients always looking for some place different to travel, this may be just what they are looking for. Tours are available for 3 nights and more, staying in four and five star properties.

Not all people agree that Americans should be allowed to bring their travel business to Cuba. What do you think as a travel agent? Will your clients be excited about this new travel?

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