Saturn V Center Groundbreaking

The "official" groundbreaking for what is now the Davidson Center for Space Exploration took place in a ceremony on July 15, 2006. As Larry Capps noted in his opening remarks, the groundbreaking was only ceremonial, as ground had physically been broken prior to the ceremony.

The groundbreaking pre-dates the Davidsons' sponsorship of the facility; at the time, it was still the "Saturn V Visitor Complex and Intermodal Center." For a year or two, there was much talk about being an "intermodal center," without actually explaining what that would mean; apparently, being an "intermodal center" qualified the project for additional government grants. However, once Dorothy and Julian Davidson announced their sponsorship [direct link to 40K pdf], the facility first became the "Davidson Saturn V Center" and later the "Davidson Center for Space Exploration," and the "intermodal" was dropped.

The groundbreaking took place on the afternoon of the annual Saturn/Apollo Reunion. The speakers for the evening's Reunion event assisted in the groundbreaking.

Also in attendance, apparently unscheduled, was Owen Garriott; he sat in the "cheap seats" with the rest of us unVIPs.