If fans of space exploration are planning to visit Florida’s Space Coast this April, they simply could not have picked a better time to do so. Take your pick, you’ve got events at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center that are space history related, there is a space shuttle mission currently scheduled to take off, NewSpacers™ can watch the inaugural flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and for those with a political bent, President Obama has a conference scheduled to discuss his plans for the future of spaceflight.

Now, if you worried that this is scattered throughout the month of April – fear not – all of these events take place within a span of ten days. Here is what will be going on during this frenetic two-week period:

April 5 – The crew of STS-131 are scheduled to roar into orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery for a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

[Image Credit: Jason Rhian]

April 9-10 – The 40th anniversary of Apollo 13. This is an event no spacer should miss, with astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise joined by “flight” Gene Kranz and ‘Pad Fuehrer’ Guenter Wendt as they provide commentary about this historic mission. The event will be at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and hosted by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Attendees will be treated to interactive discussions, a gourmet meal and much, much more.

[Image Credit: Astronaut Scholarship Foundation]

April 12 – SpaceX has the inaugural launch of its Falcon 9 rocket scheduled to blast off from launch complex 40. This much-anticipated first flight is hoped to signal the lowering the cost to reach orbit and usher in a new ‘commercial’ space age.

[Image Credit: SpaceX]

April 15 – President Barack Obama will unveil his plans for the future of manned spaceflight. After the initial poor reception to the lack of direction in the NASA 2011 budget, the president has been pressed to provide a clearer, sustainable long-term goal for the space agency. With the future of America’s manned space program possibly on the line, this will be a conference die-hard space enthusiasts should pay close attention to.

[Image Credit: billnelson.senate.gov]

These ten days in April will be a whirlwind of activity at America’s spaceport and for those spacers looking for a hypergolic injection of space-related excitement, if you can be there – you should be there. If you can’t however, please stay tuned to Spacevidcast as we cover these events and relay the excitement to you first hand – as only Spacevidcast can. However, given the level of intensity, we may be unable to live up to our motto, “making space commonplace” because these ten days will be anything but ‘commonplace.’