By Chase Cowan

Cape Canaveral, home of Kennedy space center (KSC) is located in Brevard County, Florida.  In 1963, following president John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the cape was renamed Cape Kennedy, but that was temporary.  In 1973, its name was changed back to Cape Canaveral.  The actual space center however, remained with the name Kennedy Space Center.

When Cape Canaveral was discovered by Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, he named it Cabo Canaveral, meaning “reed bed,” or “sugarcane plantation.”  This is because before the cape was populated, it was mostly just a sandy marshland.

The reason that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chose to place their space center in Florida is because it’s one of the closest places to the equator, while still being in America.  It is most optimal for rockets to launch near the equator because they can take advantage of the earth’s rotation by using its kinetic energy.  On average, rockets have to use 0.3 percent less energy to leave earth’s orbit.  In the long run, this can save quite a lot of money on fuel, which can be spent on further research.

Before Cape Canaveral was used for space exploration, it was used to test missiles.  The first rocket launched out of Kennedy space center was a V-2 rocket, called Bumper 8.  It was launched on July 24, 1950.  Later in 1959, the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), called Titan, was successfully launched out of Cape Canaveral.

After all these successful launches, NASA decided to make the cape the “primary launch center for spaceflight, research, and new technology,” according to Spaceline.org, as Cape Canaveral’s credibility grew as an adequate rocket launching location, arguably the most famous space exploration mission ever took place in 1969.  The Apollo 11 mission took place out of Cape Canaveral, landing three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins on the moon.

Lots of people believe that the rocket that they flew on was called Apollo 11, but in fact, it was the mission that took that name.  The actual rocket was called Saturn V.

Nowadays, when visiting Kennedy Space Center, there are tons of attractions available for anyone to view.  Some examples of the most exciting attractions are the Saturn V rocket, the same model that landed men on the moon, the Atlantis Space Shuttle, and lots of artifacts from historical rocket launches.

Even today, the Kenedy Space Center is one of the world’s best rocket launching facilities for government and commercial businesses, such as NASA and Space X.  Recently, the most commonly launched rocket from Cape Canaveral is the Falcon 9, made by Space X, which was founded by Elon Musk, a 53 year old billionaire.

One of the most important buildings at Kennedy Space center to see is the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), also known as the Moon Building, which is a massive, rectangular building in which the final assembly of rockets and other capsules is completed.  It is also where the crawler-transporter is located, 131 feet long by 114 foot wide, and $14 million dollars in 1967.  Thats more like $128.5 million in today’s money.

Graphic done by Ryder Navarra