A SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster is on display at Kennedy Space Center

One of the three cores that propelled SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket off the pad and into the history books earlier this month made a surprise appearance at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex this weekend.

A horizontally oriented Falcon Heavy side core – charred from its launch and subsequent re-entry – will remain on display in front of the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit through Tuesday, according to the Visitor Complex.

Photos of the booster show that its four landing legs were detached and nine Merlin main engines have been covered with blue SpaceX caps. Guests, however, can stand mere feet away from the previously flown first stage that landed about eight minutes after liftoff.

The Visitor Complex noted that the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit and Shuttle Launch Experience will be closed Tuesday, but both are expected to re-open Wednesday.

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Also on Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to land at KSC's former Shuttle Landing Facility, kicking off a series of tours and receptions that culminate in the second National Space Council meeting at the Space Station Processing Facility Wednesday morning.

Falcon Heavy lifted off on its demonstration flight from KSC's pad 39A on Feb. 6, hurtling CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster and "Starman" mannequin on a path toward the asteroid belt. The rocket's two side boosters performed tandem landings at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Landing Zone 1, generating two triple sonic booms during their automated descents.

Those triple sonic booms are generated first by the engines, then the landing legs before their deployment and, finally, the rocket's grid fins, according to SpaceX Communications Director John Taylor.

The rocket's center core, though, missed the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship by about 300 feet and was destroyed. Musk said it lacked sufficient ignition fluid to light the outer two engines and that a fix is in the works for the next Falcon Heavy mission.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.