gEORGE'S.NASA.History

U.S. history has been written at the John F. Kennedy Space Center . As the departure site for our first journey to the Moon, and hundreds of scientific, commercial, and applications spacecraft, and now as the base for Space Shuttle launch and landing operations.

Located on the east coast of Florida approximately midway between Jacksonville and Miami, the 140,000 acres (56,700 hectares) controlled by the Center represent a melding of technology and nature. Wildlife thrives here, alongside the immense steel-and-concrete structures of the nation's major launch base. KSC is a national wildlife refuge, and part of its coastal area is a national seashore by agreement between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of the Interior. More than 200 species of birds live here year-round, and in the colder months large flocks of migratory waterfowl arrive from the North and stay for the winter. Many species of endangered wildlife are native to this area: the Southern bald eagle, brown pelican, manatee, peregrine falcon, green sea turtle, and Kemp's Ridley sea turtle.

KSC extends about 34 miles (55 kilometers) from north to south and measures 10 miles (16 kilometers) at its widest point. Located primarily on Merritt Island, the facility is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and the Banana River, and on the west by the Indian River. The northern boundary is some 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Daytona Beach, and the southern tip is just across the Banana River from Port Canaveral.

Essentially flat, KSC land averages about five feet (1.5 meters) above sea level. Extensive marshes and scrub vegetation, including saw palmetto, blanket most of the terrain. Cabbage palm, slash pine and oak grow on higher ground. Long rows of Australian pine protect citrus groves planted by early settlers on Merritt Island.

Archaeologists have uncovered burial mounds and shell middens (refuse piles) left by small bands of prehistoric Indians who inhabited the area thousands of years ago. These Indians were attracted by the abundance of marine food found in the marshes and saltwater creeks in the area.

Spanish fleets en route from the New World to the mother country once sailed the Gulf Stream off Cape Canaveral. Treasure hunters still search for traces of galleons which foundered off the coast and deposited their contents on the ocean floor.

There are more than 1,500 acres (607 hectares) of citrus groves on the Center. These lands are leased to individuals--in many cases the original owners--who care for the trees and harvest their fruit. Beekeepers collect honey from and maintain the hives of bees essential to the pollination of citrus trees. The lease arrangements are administered by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The nerve center of KSC is Launch Complex 39. This is the location of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where Saturn V vehicles were once prepared for launch. This massive building is now the NASA assembly site for the Space Shuttle.

Some 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) to the east of the assembly building are the two launch pads where journeys into space begin. Five miles (eight kilometers) south is the KSC Industrial Area, where many of the Center's support facilities are located. First Apollo and now Shuttle crews prepare here for the next mission. Here also are the administrative headquarters for KSC operations, the offices of the Center director and other NASA and contractor managers.

Spaceport USA, the KSC visitors center, is located on the NASA Causeway (an extension of State Road 405), south of Titusville, and six miles east (9.6 kilometers) from U.S. Highway 1. Available to visitors at no cost are displays of spacecraft, rockets and space equipment; space and aeronautic exhibits; and space science films and demonstrations. The IMAX, one of two theatres, has an admission fee. The IMAX production is an experience much like actually being there during a Shuttle liftoff, or working with astronauts in the vast openness of space. Also available for a modest fee are conducted bus tours through Kennedy Space Center and adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station




Earth from The Moon Surface	Shuttle Launch7-26-05
Inter National Space Center and The Columbia Space Shuttle August 6, 2005

An Atlas V rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, carrying NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the start of its 35-million-mile (56-million-km) trip to Mars

The space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a 747, takes off from Edwards Air Force Base in the Southern California desert Friday

With the notable exception of Dr. Robert H. Goddard's pioneering work with liquid propellant rockets in the 1920s and 1930s, American interest in rocketry and space exploration prior to World War II was restricted to amateur rocket clubs and the fertile outpourings of science fiction writers. With the outbreak of war, military demands led to the development of a host of rocket-powered battlefield weapons for use against tanks, armored vehicles and submarines and also for barrages in support of troop landings and advancements. Space science, a loose term at the time, was limited primarily to weather and upper atmospheric studies using balloons and small sounding rockets. Although the idea of putting artificial satellites into orbit around the Earth for military and scientific purposes had been explored by the armed forces and various civilian agencies, it never passed the talking stage; rocketry had not yet progressed to the point where such far-out schemes were feasible.

Toward the end of the war, American interest in rocket technology had increased dramatically. This was mainly because of the impact of the successful German V-2 rocket development on American military and scientific circles. Military planners saw the long-range V-2 as the shape of things to come in the dawning nuclear age. Scientists viewed it as a tool for high-altitude research and the forerunner of larger rocket systems for the exploration of space. Eager to cash in on this technological bonanza, the U.S. Army brought a number of German rocket experts and almost 100 confiscated V-2 rockets to this country following the end of hostilities.

The Army began testing V-2s in 1946 at its Ordnance Proving Grounds at White Sands, N.M. Here, German scientists and technicians, headed by Dr. Wernher von Braun, developer of the V-2, worked alongside their American counterparts in putting reassembled V-2s to use for research. In the course of the next five years, teams from each of the three armed services, aerospace industries and universities--partners in America's missile and space development--assembled information from the successful launchings of 40 instrumented V-2s. While the tests yielded invaluable data in high-altitude research, the emphasis -- and congressional appropriations -- were tuned to the development of intermediate and intercontinental range ballistic missiles for national defense. As the range and sophistication of the V-2 and follow-on rocket systems increased, it became evident that a new, long-range test site was needed. In October 1949, President Harry S. Truman established the Joint Long Range Proving Grounds at Cape Canaveral, Fla.


Lunar Surface Sunset Painting