For one week only each year, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex shines a little brighter.

"The entire Rocket Garden is lit up,” said Therrin Protze, the Chief Operating Officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Holidays in Space lights up the night in a big way.

"We like to say we are fantastic, not fantasy,” Therrin believes.

Each night after sunset during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the Saturn1B rocket on the western side of the complex becomes a canvas where mankind's greatest accomplishments are honored.

Projection mapping effects turn the Saturn1B into a three-dimensional movie screen of sorts. At 141.6 feet long, this may be the longest movie screen you’ll ever see.

"We work with companies that have special projectors, I think there are over seven projectors,” Therrin says.

The show includes historical film, computer animation and pyro power, like fireworks, a rarity at the Kennedy Space Center.

"The S1B would be very proud, that I'm inspiring the next generation. Because that is what we do,” Therrin says of the rocket that flew nine times between 1966 and 1975.

The end of the show depicts what life on Mars may be like.

“So when that child maybe going to Mars someday, is inspired by that show, and see that I want to go there, then that's what the rocket would say,” Therrin says as to what the Saturn1B would think of its latest mission.

Therrin believes it’s today’s fifth graders that will be the astronauts who go to space.

With the Visitor Center staying open late, there's always time to step inside the new Heroes and Legends exhibit and take a look around."

"It really signifies what it takes to become a hero,” Therrin says of the new exhibit.

Pioneers from early space flights, along with artifacts tell the story of how American heroes took the lead in the space race.

The Astronaut Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of the men and women who walked among the stars above earth.

"We make the artifacts come alive. And I think that is the biggest accomplishment of this new attraction,” Therrin said.

While “Holidays in Space” and the Saturn1B show conclude at dusk on January 1, 2017, the new Heroes and Legends exhibit and new Astronauts Hall of Fame is open daily.

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