I first visited the Kennedy Space Center in 2007 and found it so inspiring that I’ve taken every opportunity to return since.

These last sixteen years have seen many twists and turns in human spaceflight.

When I visited KSC in 2011, the space shuttle programme had just finished – with the final mission landing the week before.

The tour bus guides were noticeably upset about the demise of the shuttle and the whole place had a bit of a downbeat feel to it.

It was therefore a joy to return again in 2013 and visit the recently opened Atlantis exhibition – a fantastic celebration of an extraordinary machine that made 33 journeys into space and back over a 26 year period.

Given I am currently on a 7 day road trip around Florida I could not pass up the opportunity to visit KSC again 10 years on.

Wow – what a decade it has been for the evolution of human spaceflight, with the commercial sector rising to NASA’s challenges to provide more cost-effective ways to get beyond Earth’s atmosphere – and back too when required.

It seemed a poignant time to revisit the Saturn V rocket exhibit that is the centrepiece of a building devoted to the Apollo moon missions.

Artemis I completed its second orbit of the moon on the day I headed over to the US and I watched the splashdown live on TV 6 days later on December 11th.

I was also keen to see Atlantis again and it was every bit as good as the first time.

Like spaceflight itself, the Kennedy Space Center has changed a lot with a major new set of exhibits housed in a complex called Gateway.

In the first instance it’s a celebration of how NASA and the commercial sector have joined forces very successfully to accelerate human spaceflight.

It showcases the amazing achievements of SpaceX and gives insight into the work other companies like Boeing are doing to contribute to the new efforts to put humans back on the moon and then potentially Mars.

To bring these plans to life the upper part of the Gateway complex is devoted to a ride experience that helps visitors imagine where humankind is headed next in terms of revisiting the moon and beyond.

The Spaceport offers you to take four different trips into the future of human spaceflight.

The most popular would appear to be Red Planet and that was the one I chose to venture on.

It was a very well imagine 4D immersive experience that takes you from Earth to Mars, via the moon and back again.

As you fly over the Martian landscape you get to watch the Mars rovers and the Ingenuity helicopter at work on the surface as well as examples of future human habitats.

Arriving at and leaving the Kennedy Space Center these days reminds you how much things have changed over the last 10 years.

Opposite KSC is a place probably best named The Bezos Space Center and certainly not something that existed on my previous four visits.

The entrance and exit routes to KSC have been changed, presumably to accommodate traffic to and from the enormous Blue Origin space facility.

Commercial space exploration writ large !!!!