SPACE.com -- Astronaut Hall of Fame Open, Attendance Thrives

Space Camp Florida Faces Foreclosure, Low Attendance Partly to Blame

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	Astronaut Hall of Fame Open, Attendance Thrives By Corey Schubert FLORIDA TODAY posted: 09:00 am ET 19 January 2003

TITUSVILLE, Fla. -- Fred Hague fiddled with the controls of a mock space shuttle control panel and grinned.

The Pittsburgh resident had driven by the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame during previous vacations to Florida but hadn't stopped until this week.

"There's a lot to see here," said Hague, who brought his family to the museum shortly after visiting Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex.

Hague is among thousands of people who museum officials said have kept attendance thriving at the attraction since it reopened Dec. 14 under the ew management of Delaware North Parks Services.

"Business has been very nice. We've been very pleased," said Hall of Fame general manager Jeannette Petrolia.

Delaware North signed a three- to five-year lease on the property, which also includes the now-defunct U.S. Space Camp Florida, in late September.

Both attractions, located on State Road 405, had been forced to close when SouthTrust Bank in Birmingham, Ala., auctioned them to settle a multi-million dollar foreclosure lawsuit against U.S. Space Camp Foundation.

Almost 1,000 people a day visited the museum during the five days after Christmas and more than 2,000 people attended Thursday after viewing the launch of space shuttle Columbia, said Susan Burrell, spokeswoman for Delaware North.

"People often visit the Visitor Complex, find out we're open and buy tickets to the museum there," Petrolia said, while she watched a dozen people browse among calendars of space shuttles and books written by astronauts in the museum's gift shop.

Beginning March 31, the facility that formerly housed U.S. Space Camp Florida will serve as the home base for the "Camp KSC" five-day educational programs currently offered seasonally to youths at the KSC Visitor's Complex, Petrolia said.

Delaware North rehired 23 of the 50 employees who had worked at the Hall of Fame under its previous owners, Petrolia said.

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