United States Astronaut Hall of Fame

The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located just south of Titusville, Florida, honored American astronauts and featured the world's largest collection of their personal memorabilia, focusing on those astronauts who have been inducted into the Hall; as well as Sigma 7, the fifth manned Mercury spacecraft. Along with Sigma 7, outside of the building stands a full-scale replica of Space Shuttle Inspiration where visitors can enter the inside and view. It is operated as part of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, to the east on Merritt Island.The Hall of Fame closed to the public on November 2, 2015, in preparation for its relocation and re-launch in late 2016 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.HistoryIn the 1980s, the six then-surviving Mercury Seven astronauts conceived of establishing a place where US space travelers could be remembered and honored, along the lines of halls of fame for other fields. The Mercury Seven Foundation and Astronaut Scholarship Foundation were formed and have a role in the current operations of the Hall of Fame. The foundation's first executive director was former Associated Press space reporter Howard Benedict.The Astronaut Hall of Fame was opened on October 29, 1990, by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, which was the first owner of the facility. It was located next to the Florida branch of Space Camp.