UNITED STATES: Guests arriving at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center can now see a space shuttle launch, a SpaceX Starship land on the moon, and, just a few seconds later, astronauts walk on the surface of Mars, all before they pass through the turnstiles to enter.
Officials at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex unveiled the “Kennedy Entry Experience,” a 3,000-square-foot (280-square-metre) video wall that offers a first look at the history and future that await guests inside.
The new six-minute spectacular takes viewers on a journey through the first 60 years of the U.S. space program, from the early days of the space race to modern-day operations on the International Space Station. The presentation then goes beyond, into the near future, when commercial spaceflight companies and NASA plan to lead the way back to the moon and then onwards to Mars.
The display, which uses attention-grabbing technology to make images appear to launch off the screen, is narrated by the late President John F. Kennedy, whose speech takes on new meaning when paired with imagery of NASA’s present and future activities in space, rather than the Apollo era for which it was written.
The Kennedy Entry Experience takes the place of a 75-foot-long (23-metre) blue granite fountain, which features the likeness and a quote from Kennedy, the centre’s namesake. Guests can still see the former tribute to the president, but now as part of the opening scene projected by the towering video installation.
Like the fountain before it, the Kennedy Entry Experience stands next to a large 3D sculpture of NASA’s insignia, which has become a popular photo backdrop and is adjacent to where guests enter the complex.
The wall is sponsored by SNA Displays, which has created large digital signs for New York City’s Times Square and at sports and entertainment venues across the country. The animation was created by the New York-based multimedia tech and design studio Blunt Action.
In addition to playing the six-minute show multiple times a day, the digital wall is capable of wayfinding and event advertising and is integrated into the complex’s emergency system to alert guests to inclement weather. The display can also support live-input video.
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