Complete Florida county guide

Brevard
County

The Space Coast combines aerospace and defense, a long Atlantic shoreline, lagoon communities, suburban growth and direct access to major Central Florida destinations.

Start My Plan Check Official SourcesDownload this county guide

Sunrise FloridaAtlantic Coast

REGIONAtlantic Coast

COMMUNITIES TO START WITHMelbourne · Palm Bay · Titusville · Cocoa Beach

LIFESTYLE SIGNALSAerospace · Family communities · Beaches

Start with daily life

Brevard County by the Numbers

The growth is not where the rockets are

Brevard County has grown 9.5 percent since 2020 — 606,612 people at the Census, 663,982 estimated for July 2025. Fifty-seven thousand more people in five years.

Almost none of them went to Titusville.

COUNTY LIFESTYLE THEMES

AerospaceFamily communitiesBeaches

Since 2020

	Titusville	Melbourne	Brevard	Palm Bay
Population change	+2.0%	+2.8%	+9.5%	+23.7%

Titusville is the space town. It sits at the north end, closest to the launch pads, and it is the county seat. It grew two percent.

Palm Bay is fifty miles south, has nothing to do with rockets, and grew almost twelve times faster.

Whatever is filling this county up, it is not the space program.

And it is barely happening in the cities at all. Two of the three largest — Titusville and Melbourne — grew under three percent between them while the county grew nine and a half.

The average describes nowhere

Here is the thing that should stop anybody reading a county-level figure about Brevard.

	Titusville	Melbourne	Palm Bay	Brevard
Median household income	$66,192	$66,991	$72,614	$78,476
Median home value	$266,600	$306,400	$283,200	$339,600
Homeownership	72.1%	59.7%	79.7%	76.7%
Aged 65 and over	23.2%	22.5%	19.0%	26.5%
People per household	2.49	2.24	2.82	2.42
Average commute	24.0 min	22.8 min	27.8 min	25.4 min
Bachelor's degree	25.7%	34.7%	24.0%	34.2%
In poverty	11.3%	15.8%	11.7%	10.1%

All three of the county’s largest cities sit below the county median on household income. Not one of them reaches it. Together they hold about 285,000 people, roughly four in ten residents, and the average they are all below is being held up by the beachside towns and the newer building around Viera — places that appear in none of those three columns.

If you are quoted the Brevard median for anything, ask which Brevard.

The household column is the one to sit with. Palm Bay runs 2.82 people per household against the county's 2.42 and is 19 percent over 65 against the county's 26.5. Palm Bay is families. The county average is retirees. Both are true at once and they are forty miles apart.

Melbourne is the strangest column on the page. It has more degrees than the county average and half again as much poverty — 34.7 percent with a bachelor's against the county's 34.2, and 15.8 percent in poverty against the county's 10.1. It also has the shortest commute and the fewest homeowners, at 59.7 percent against a county that owns 76.7. Small households, short journeys, more renters, more degrees and more poverty in the same square miles. It is the one part of Brevard that behaves like a city rather than a suburb, and the county average flattens all of it.

And a practical note for anyone weighing renting against buying: a home in Palm Bay costs $56,400 less than the county median while rent there runs $45 a month more. Cheap to buy, costly to rent — so if Palm Bay is where you are looking, the case for buying is stronger there than the county numbers suggest.

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Six checks before you choose a county.

Property cost, flood and wind, schools, healthcare, daily travel and storm readiness.

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Communities to compare

Begin with the county’s major places.

These are starting points, not a ranking. Add nearby towns and neighborhoods as you learn your daily route and housing priorities.

Melbourne

Melbourne is the county's second largest city and grew 2.8 percent since 2020 against the county's 9.5. It carries more bachelor's degrees than the county average and noticeably more poverty, with the shortest commute and the lowest homeownership rate of the places measured here — about six in ten against the county's three in four. Walk the specific neighborhood rather than reading the city figure, because this is the one place in Brevard where the city-wide number hides the widest spread.

Palm Bay

Palm Bay is the county's largest city and took nearly a quarter more residents in five years, with more people per household and fewer over 65 than anywhere else on this page. Homes cost less than the county median and rent costs more, so price both before assuming which way around it works here.

Titusville

Titusville is the county seat, at the north end nearest the launch pads, with the county's lowest home values and rents of the places measured here — and it grew two percent since 2020 while the county grew nine and a half. Ask locally why before you read that as either a bargain or a warning.

Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach sits on the barrier island between the Atlantic and the Indian River Lagoon, reached by bridges — and the island towns are part of why the county median sits above both of its largest cities. Time every bridge you would cross in a normal week before you commit to an island address.

Viera

Brevard's county government has operated from Viera since 1989 even though Titusville is the county seat, and much of the newer building sits in this middle stretch. Check which municipality — or none — an address actually belongs to, because services and taxes follow that answer rather than the postal one.

Three relocation checks

Questions to answer for Brevard County.

The regional pattern is a starting point. Verify the answer for the exact city, neighborhood and property you are considering.

Generated image of pelicans flying over a winding tidal creek and salt marsh at sunset.

Seventy-two miles, and a third of it is water

Brevard runs 72 miles north to south along the Atlantic. It is one of the longest counties in Florida and one of the narrowest.

Of its 1,557 square miles, 541 are water — just under 35 percent. The Indian River Lagoon, the Banana River, the Atlantic. More than a third of what a map calls Brevard County is not land you can stand on.

That matters for two reasons. It is why the county is 72 miles long and feels longer, because most of the crossings are bridges. And it is why the population density looks the way it does: 597.7 people per square mile at the 2020 Census, computed on the land only. Run the 2025 estimate over the same land area and it is about 654.

There are sixteen incorporated municipalities inside those 72 miles. Titusville is the county seat, but the county government has operated out of Viera since 1989 — so the seat and the seat of government are not the same place.

VERIFY LOCALLY BEFORE YOU COMMIT

A Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral.

Kennedy Space Center, and the launches

Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station are in Brevard County. This is where Florida's rockets go up.

In 2025, 109 rockets were launched from Florida's Space Coast, up from around 18 in 2016, as Air & Space Forces Magazine reported in February 2026.

You can watch them from much of the county. The county's tourism office lists Playalinda Beach in Canaveral National Seashore, the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, the shores of the Indian River Lagoon, Jetty Park at Port Canaveral, the Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier and the Cocoa Beach beaches, and Sebastian Inlet State Park.

If work in the space industry is part of your move, find out where the job is before you pick a town. The county runs 72 miles from end to end.

VERIFY LOCALLY BEFORE YOU COMMIT

Generated image of an older couple walking a dog on a brick street under live oaks hung with Spanish moss, past bungalows with deep front porches.

North end or south end

Practically, moving to Brevard is choosing a stretch of a 72-mile ribbon, and the ends are not interchangeable.

The north end is the space end. Titusville, closest to the pads, cheapest houses of the three columns above, lowest rent, and the slowest growth in the county by a wide margin.

The south end is where the people are going. Palm Bay took nearly a quarter more residents in five years, runs younger, and has more children per household than anywhere else on this page.

Between them sits Melbourne — more rented than anywhere else on this page, with the smallest households and the shortest commute, and growing at under three percent — and then the beachside towns and the newer building around Viera, which appear in no column here and are quietly holding the county average up.

Drive the length of it before you decide. Seventy-two miles with bridges in it is not a thing you can judge from a map, and the county you are being sold on is at least three different places.

VERIFY LOCALLY BEFORE YOU COMMIT

Hospitals in Brevard County

Six hospitals with an emergency room.

From the state's own hospital list. Each card opens the state's record for that hospital: its address, phone, services and inspection reports.

Melbourne

Holmes Regional Medical Center

550 licensed beds

The state's record ↗Titusville

Parrish Medical Center

208 licensed beds

The state's record ↗Cocoa Beach

Cape Canaveral Hospital

150 licensed beds

The state's record ↗Palm Bay

Palm Bay Hospital

133 licensed beds

The state's record ↗Melbourne

Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital

119 licensed beds

The state's record ↗Melbourne

Viera Hospital

98 licensed beds

The state's record ↗

The state licenses five more hospitals in Brevard County with no emergency room; its list names them.

How do I compare hospitals in Florida? →How do I find a doctor who takes Medicare? →Search the state's hospital list ↗

Source: Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, FloridaHealthFinder, Locate a Facility (hospitals), read September 25, 2026.

Evergreen county experiences

15 places that reveal the county.

Use enduring natural, historic and cultural places to understand the area beyond a real-estate showing.

FLORIDA PLACE TO EXPLORE

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

The bus tour goes through the security gates onto Kennedy Space Center itself, stopping at the Gantry at Launch Complex 39 and at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Back at the visitor complex, attractions and tours are grouped by era, from the earliest space programs through to current missions.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

FLORIDA PLACE TO EXPLORE

Canaveral National Seashore

Canaveral National Seashore protects nearly 58,000 acres of barrier island, open lagoon, coastal hammock and pine flatwoods, including 24 miles of undeveloped beach that provides nesting ground for several thousand protected sea turtles. Two thirds of the park is Mosquito Lagoon, designated an estuary of national significance and one of the most productive estuaries in North America.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION

Brevard Zoo

Brevard Zoo on North Wickham Road in Melbourne is run by the East Coast Zoological Foundation and accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. What sets it apart is that you can get onto the water inside it: guided kayak tours run down the Nyami Nyami River past giraffe and rhinos in Expedition Africa, and self-guided kayaking crosses the restored wetlands in Wild Florida.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge covers 140,000 acres of coastal dune, saltwater marsh and estuary about 60 miles east of Orlando, established in 1963 to protect migratory birds. It exists as an overlay of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and under that agreement the land serves the space program first and the refuge second.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

WATER & COAST

Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier

The Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier runs 800 feet out over the Atlantic and works as a small entertainment strip rather than a plain fishing pier, with restaurants and bars along its length, an arcade, gift shops and live music. On the sand beneath it are regulation beach volleyball courts, fresh-water showers, beach rentals and year-round lifeguards.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

HISTORY & HERITAGE

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse

The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse has stood on the Cape for more than 155 years and is owned today by the United States Space Force, with the Coast Guard maintaining it as an active aid to navigation. Because it sits inside an active military installation you cannot drive to it: the public can only visit on a prescheduled tour, and tours have to be booked at least four days ahead.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

MUSEUM & CULTURE

Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum

The Valiant Air Command was founded in Titusville in 1977 and runs its warbird museum as a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit rather than a commercial attraction. The collection is arranged by era, from pre-war and First World War aircraft through the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War to modern military types, alongside training cockpit simulators, land vehicles and artifacts.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

HISTORY & HERITAGE

Historic Cocoa Village

Historic Cocoa Village is a walkable district of independent shops and restaurants managed by Historic Cocoa Village Main Street, which also runs a historic walking tour of the area. A Saturday art market sets up each week at Myrt Tharpe Square.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

PARKS & OUTDOORS

Sebastian Inlet State Park

Sebastian Inlet State Park sits on the A1A barrier island south of Melbourne Beach, either side of the inlet itself. Surfers come for the breaks known as First Peak and Monster Hole, the jetties that cut into the Atlantic are used for fishing, and the calmer Indian River Lagoon side is where the kayaking is.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION

Turkey Creek Sanctuary

Turkey Creek Sanctuary is a City of Palm Bay nature preserve reached through the Margaret Hames Nature Center on Port Malabar Boulevard, next to the Tony Rosa Community Center, which is also where the public parking is. The nature center is staffed by volunteers rather than paid employees.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION

Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge

Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge runs for 20.5 miles of beach and shoreline between Melbourne Beach and Wabasso Beach, crossing from Brevard into Indian River County. It was created to protect the most significant loggerhead sea turtle nesting area in the world and the most significant green turtle nesting area in North America.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

WATER & COAST

Barrier Island Center

The Barrier Island Center is the primary visitor and education center for the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, set among the dunes in the middle of the coast the refuge protects. Inside there are interactive exhibits, an auditorium, a classroom, a gift shop and an observation deck, and outside a one-mile trail crosses the 34-acre sanctuary from the dune line to the Indian River Lagoon, passing through maritime hammock, coastal strand and tidal swamp.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

MUSEUM & CULTURE

American Space Museum & Walk of Fame

The American Space Museum sits on Pine Street in downtown Titusville and is run by the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation, a non-profit formed in 1988 after a local physician wrote to the city council suggesting a project to preserve space history. Its emphasis falls on the people who built and launched the rockets rather than the ones who rode them, and much of the collection was given by those space workers themselves, along with astronauts, NASA and contractor companies.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

PARKS & OUTDOORS

Jetty Park

Jetty Park sits at the mouth of Port Canaveral, which means the view from the sand includes cruise ships leaving port and, when one is scheduled, rocket launches from the Cape. The park combines a beach, a fishing pier and a campground with a camp store on one site.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

FLORIDA PLACE TO EXPLORE

The Dinosaur Store

The Dinosaur Store opened in November 1996 as a small fossil and mineral shop two blocks from the beach in Cocoa Beach, and within a few years the same people were building traveling exhibits for other museums, among them the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the Science Spectrum in Texas and MOSI in Tampa. A new building went up in 2006 with a non-profit museum designed into it, the shop and Adventure Zone opened on the ground floor in 2009, and the Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures followed across the second and third floors in 2017.

See the complete guide →Official site ↗Map ↗

Beaches in Brevard County

Every beach, one clear card.

19BEACH DESTINATIONS

Each card gives the beach, its visit category and its next steps: the practical visit guide, the official site where the beach has one, and directions. Always verify current parking, fees, water quality, lifeguard coverage and posted rules before leaving.

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH

Not identified here as clothing-optional. This category does not guarantee child safety, calm water or lifeguard coverage.

CLOTHING-OPTIONAL

Nudity is officially permitted in all or part of the destination. Read the current notice before taking children.

NUDITY ADVISORY

Nudity may be encountered in a remote area even without an official clothing-optional designation.

NUDITY MAY BE ENCOUNTERED01

Playalinda Beach

Brevard County, Florida

Undeveloped shoreline inside Canaveral National Seashore, north of Titusville. A vehicle entrance fee applies. Nothing is built behind the dune and there is no commercial frontage anywhere along it. One of the best rocket launch viewpoints in the county, and it closes around major launches and in bad weather, so check before driving out.

Nudity may be encountered in a remote area. Check current rules, access and conditions before visiting.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH02

Jetty Park Beach

Brevard County, Florida

At the mouth of Port Canaveral, with a fishing pier, a campground and a camp store opened in 2025. Day passes and annual passes are sold online. Cruise ships pass close to the sand on turnaround days, and it is one of the nearest public viewpoints to the launch pads.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH03

Cape Canaveral Beach

Brevard County, Florida

The shoreline of the city of Cape Canaveral, between the port and Cocoa Beach. The main public access with full facilities is Cherie Down Park, which has free parking, restrooms, a drinking fountain, outdoor showers, pavilions, a boardwalk and dune crossovers.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH04

Alan Shepard Park Beach

Brevard County, Florida

At the east end of State Road 520, beside the Cocoa Beach Pier. Parking is $7 for cars and recreational vehicles, $10 on weekends and on holidays from March 1 to Labor Day. No overnight parking. The closest beach parking to the pier's shops and restaurants.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH05

Cocoa Beach

Brevard County, Florida

The best-known stretch of sand in the county and the one most visitors mean when they say they are going to the beach. Hotels, shops and restaurants face the ocean, and the pier sits at the east end of State Road 520. Public parking is paid, at Alan Shepard Park and Sidney Fischer Park.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH06

Sidney Fischer Park Beach

Brevard County, Florida

In the 2100 block of State Road A1A, a few minutes south of the pier. Parking is $5 for cars and recreational vehicles. The park closes at dusk and no overnight parking is permitted.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH07

Lori Wilson Park Beach

Brevard County, Florida

A 32-acre county park at 1500 North Atlantic Avenue with over 200 free parking spaces. A 3,155-foot boardwalk runs through maritime hammock behind the dune, and six beach accesses, four of them ADA accessible, reach the sand. Seasonal lifeguards, restrooms on both sides of the hammock, outdoor showers, a playground, grills, and an off-leash dog park divided for large and small dogs.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH08

Satellite Beach

Brevard County, Florida

A residential beachside city rather than a single access. Its shoreline is reached through named city parks, each with its own small parking lot, and parking at every one of them is paid from 7:00am to 7:00pm every day of the year, with passes arranged in advance. Brevard County residents can get a pass free.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH09

Hightower Beach Park

Brevard County, Florida

Over 18 acres and 2,800 feet of beachfront at Satellite Beach, with a wooden boardwalk, an ADA dune crossover, restrooms, showers and covered picnic areas. Only 31 parking spaces. Parking is paid from 7:00am to 7:00pm every day of the year and needs a pass arranged in advance; Brevard County residents can get one free.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH10

Pelican Beach Park

Brevard County, Florida

The largest of Satellite Beach's beach parks, with 131 parking spaces, an EV charging point, an event lawn, pavilions, grills, volleyball courts, ADA restrooms, showers and an ADA dune crossover. Parking is paid from 7:00am to 7:00pm every day of the year and needs a pass arranged in advance.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH11

Canova Beach Park

Brevard County, Florida

A 9.1-acre county park at 3299 Highway A1A, Indian Harbour Beach. Free parking. Three dune crossovers, one of them ADA accessible. Outside showers, a drinking fountain, a pavilion, a grill and benches along the crossover. Surf fishing. Dogs are welcome on the beach on a leash with current tags, at no charge, with waste bags and trash cans provided.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH12

Paradise Beach

Brevard County, Florida

Officially Howard E. Futch Memorial Park at Paradise Beach - 12 acres at 2301 North Highway A1A. Over 200 free parking spaces, four volleyball courts, a playground with shade structures, and three pavilions including an 80-foot round one that seats 200. Restrooms, outside showers, seasonal lifeguards, and three dune crossovers with one ADA accessible.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH13

Indialantic Boardwalk Beach

Brevard County, Florida

Indialantic's main beachfront park is Nance Park, 5.45 acres at 201 North Miramar Avenue: a boardwalk and dune crossovers, restrooms, outside showers, pavilions, two sand volleyball courts, a playground, and 100 paved parking spaces of which 96 are metered. Sunrise Park, a few streets north, adds a covered observation deck and another 25 spaces, mostly metered.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH14

Melbourne Beach

Brevard County, Florida

The town at the quiet end of the barrier island, south of Indialantic. Its public access is through the county parks strung along Highway A1A - Spessard Holland north and south, and Val M. Steele - all with free parking, and all a different proposition from the paid, built-up beaches further north.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH15

Spessard Holland Beach Park

Brevard County, Florida

Two adjoining county parks on Highway A1A, three miles south of US 192. North is 4.53 acres with three dune crossovers, one ADA accessible, and is a well-used surf fishing spot. South is 6.5 acres with a 100-foot dune boardwalk and two pavilions, and draws the surfers. Both have free parking, seasonal lifeguards, restrooms, drinking fountains and outdoor showers.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH16

Coconut Point Park Beach

Brevard County, Florida

Renamed Val M. Steele Park by the Brevard County Commissioners in March 2024, in memory of Val Steele, though most people still call it Coconut Point. Free parking, restrooms, outside showers, dune crossovers and picnic shelters, on the Melbourne Beach stretch of Highway A1A.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH17

Sebastian Inlet State Park Beach

Brevard County, Florida

$8 per vehicle, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at the southern end of the county. Two jetties reach into the Atlantic and the breaks off them - First Peak and Monster Hole - bring surfers from outside Florida. Camping, boat ramps, kayak launches, restrooms, showers, laundry and a restaurant on site. Loggerhead turtles nest here in numbers and rangers run turtle walks. Two museums cover the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet and local fishing history.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH18

Robert P. Murkshe Memorial Park

Brevard County, Florida

Two and a half acres at 1600 South Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach. A small free parking lot shaded by vegetation, a wood boardwalk through sea grapes, a 320-square-foot pavilion with two tables and a grill, restrooms with a paved walkway to the dune crossover, and an outdoor shower. Surf fishing, and a clear line of sight for launches.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

STANDARD PUBLIC BEACH19

Shell Street Beach

Brevard County, Florida

A small access at Satellite Beach with 18 parking spaces, covered picnic areas and restrooms. Parking is paid from 7:00am to 7:00pm every day of the year and needs a pass arranged in advance.

Open beach guide →Official site ↗Directions ↗

VERIFY BEFORE YOU GOCurrent access, facilities, fees and water conditions

Official coastal access guide ↗Beach water quality ↗

Where to stay in Brevard County →Local help in Brevard County →

Official planning desk

Check current public information before making the move.

How to research a Florida county →

Where these figures came from

US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Brevard County, FloridaPopulation estimate and percent change, age, income, home value, homeownership, gross rent, household size, commute, education, poverty, land area, population per square mile
US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Titusville city, FloridaThe Titusville column — population, percent change, age, income, home value, homeownership, gross rent, household size, commute, education, poverty
US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Palm Bay city, FloridaThe Palm Bay column, the same items
Wikipedia, Brevard County, FloridaCounty seat, largest city, 2020 census count, total and water area, the 72-mile length, sixteen municipalities, and Viera as the seat of county government since 1989
Air & Space Forces Magazine, How the Space Force Is Managing Growth at Its Busiest Launch Range, February 13, 2026The Kennedy Space Center card: 109 launches from Florida's Space Coast in 2025, up from around 18 in 2016
Visit Space Coast, launch viewing venuesThe Kennedy Space Center card: the places the county's tourism office lists for watching a launch, as in the rocket launch answer

QUESTIONS THAT NAME THIS COUNTY

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