Before astronauts get suited up and launched into space, they spends their final days relaxing with their wives and kids in a private beach house near Cape Canaveral, in Florida. The two-story beach house, located about a mile from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, has played host to hundreds of astronauts and their families who have barbecued on its patio, a tradition that has been on for nearly fifty years. Situated above the dunes at the edge of a pristine beach, the house provides a spectacular view of the vast ocean and the sky, as well as the launch pad. Its isolation makes it the perfect place to bid farewells to family members.

The house was originally built in the 1940s, and was a part of the Neptune Beach subdivision at Cape Canaveral. In 1963, the property was bought by NASA to accommodate the expanding Kennedy Space Center. While most other houses and structures were torn down, the Beach House was saved from the wrecking ball.

Roofing materials, blown loose by Hurricane Matthew, lie on the ground behind the Beach House at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett