Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory

The Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory once stood on the Cocoa campus of Eastern Florida State College, honouring the astronauts of the Space Coast with a public planetarium and observatory - though the original building no longer exists today.

About the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory

Also known as AMPO, the facility combined a planetarium, a public observatory, a large-screen theatre, exhibit halls, a classroom and an art gallery on the Eastern Florida State College campus in Cocoa, Florida.

History

Hurricane Irma caused damage to the building in September 2017, and it was closed indefinitely afterward. In 2018 the college launched a $9 million campaign to repair and refurbish the planetarium and observatory, but the fundraising effort fell short. With the building's condition continuing to deteriorate, it was demolished in 2022. Eastern Florida State College has since allocated funding within an $87 million, ten-year campus master plan to build a new planetarium on the Cocoa campus.

Location

The original site was on the Eastern Florida State College campus in Cocoa, Florida, on the Space Coast near Kennedy Space Center.

Visiting today

There is currently no observatory or planetarium building to visit at this location - the structure was demolished in 2022. Anyone interested in the site's future should watch for updates from Eastern Florida State College on its planned replacement planetarium.

See your named star from here

Even without a physical observatory standing at this address, the idea behind AMPO - sharing the sky with the public - lives on in what a named star offers: real coordinates that any telescope, anywhere, can be pointed at. Name a star or browse our star catalogue to explore the night sky already claimed.