The Space Mirror Memorial, also called the Astronauts Memorial, stands on the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island, Florida. The Astronauts Memorial Foundation maintains it. The memorial was dedicated on May 9, 1991 and cost $6.2 million.
Wes Jones of Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones designed the Space Mirror after an international competition. It is 43 feet (13 meters) high and 50 feet (15.2 meters) wide, made of polished black granite divided into 90 panels. The names of fallen astronauts are cut through the surface and filled with translucent acrylic, backlit by LEDs, so that they appear to float in the reflected sky.
The original design used motors to tilt and turn the wall so that mirrors directed sunlight onto the names. The tracking system failed in 1997, and floodlights now light the names.
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