National Register of Historic Places

Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole

Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County, Florida
Listed
January 21, 2000
Type
Object
Period
Listed
Ref No.
99001637

About this property

The Launch Complex 39 Press Site is a news media facility at Launch Complex 39 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Merritt Island, Florida where journalists have observed every U.S. crewed space launch since Apollo 8 in 1968. The site is just south of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB); 3 miles (4.8 km) west-southwest of Pad A, and 3.4 miles (5.4 km) southwest of Pad B. The site includes an elevated mound where news media facilities are located, as well as the KSC News Center and several smaller support buildings. The News Center is 8,700 square feet (810 m2) and contains 15 site support offices, media workspace, and a media library. Current media buildings include CBS, NBC, Florida Today and The Orlando Sentinel; and trailers for The Associated Press and Reuters. The 100-seat auditorium in the audio-video support building, where pre- and post-launch news conferences are held, is named for former CNN correspondent John Holliman, who covered space exploration until his death in 1998. It was built in 1980. A large illuminated digital countdown clock and a flagpole flying an American flag on the edge of the turning basin have often been included in television coverage and launch photos. Before a launch, the clock counts down, showing the remaining time until T-zero in hours, minutes and seconds (–00:00:00). After launch, the clock counts forward in Mission Elapsed Time for several hours. The flagpole also flew a smaller Space Shuttle Orbiter-specific flag below the American flag on launch day during the final years of the Space Shuttle Program.

Location

Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County, Florida
28.58242, -80.64524

Categories

OTHERCOMMUNICATIONS
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Launch Control Center
Industrial
0.3 mi
Vehicle Assembly Building-High Bay and Low Bay
Industrial
0.4 mi
Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities
Listed
0.8 mi
Crawlerway
Industrial
1.4 mi
Launch Complex 39
Modern
2.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole listed on the National Register?

Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 2000.

What type of historic resource is Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole?

Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole is classified as a object in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole?

The period of significance for Press Site-Clock and Flag Pole is recorded as the listed era.

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