Space centers generally are associated with launch sites for spacecraft. However, many facilities operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other space agencies are not directly related to launch activities. These centers are involved in a variety of projects that directly and indirectly contribute to the goals of each space agency.

Nasa Centers

NASA has ten major centers in the United States in addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, and several smaller facilities. NASA inherited some of these centers from its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), when NASA was created in 1958. Other centers were created after NASA was established, in large part to carry out the agency's early goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s.

Perhaps the best known NASA center is the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The...