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People turned away from Space Center during launch
Some people are upset after they were turned away from the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday night for the high-profile SpaceX launch.
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - Space fans who pre-purchased launch tickets were turned away from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Thursday.
Several people spent hundreds of dollars and waited hours in their car trying to see the highly anticipated launches but never made it inside.
Some people pulled off on the side of the road to watch the rocket launch from their cars. Others missed it altogether.
People tell FOX 35, they pre-purchased tickets for the event and want to know why they were turned away.
"It was an unfortunate experience. We wasted a whole day driving, standing in the car line, so very disappointing," Sven Jordt who is visiting from North Carolina.
He’s a space enthusiast who’s been looking forward to seeing a rocket launch up close for a while. He thought that would happen on Thursday night but never made it.
"We are familiar with the lines at Disney, but you usually get in. They don’t turn you around," he said.
Sven says, his family paid around $500 to watch the launch from the visitor complex. They waited in a miles-long line for over two hours but were turned away at the gate. When they tried to call the help line, they were on hold for over an hour before getting any kind of update. They left the complex disappointed and never saw the launch they came for.
"It was very agitating. It was kind of scary," Jordt said. "They were screaming at the drivers. They didn’t have any explanation for us really what was going on."
Several others shared similar concerns on social media, saying they pre-purchased tickets and weren’t let in. FOX 35 took these concerns to the KSC Visitor Complex.
A spokesperson says, they had an unprecedented amount of people come out for the high-profile launch, and "because of the influx of traffic, local authorities made the decision to redirect traffic in the interest of public safety. Though this was beyond the visitor complex’s control, we recognize this caused confusion and that some ticket holders were unintentionally turned away."
Sven says, he was given a refund, but that doesn’t make up for the missed opportunity.
"It’s just disappointing since this is NASA. We are space enthusiasts, and we weren’t able to see the launch. That’s what we came here for. It’s just unfortunate," he concluded.
Sven says, he hopes policy changes are made so people who buy tickets are guaranteed a spot to see launches and don’t end up spending hours stuck in their car or being turned away.