The Space Race and NASA H

When the space race between the V United States and the Soviet Union began in 1957, the first U. S. rockets were launched from Cape Canaveral. Titan and Delta rockets are still launched from the same launch pads today.

In the early 1960s, the first U. S. manned spaceflights were launched from Cape Canaveral for the newly founded National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The first two manned suborbital Mercury flights were launched from Launch Complex 5 in 1961. Four manned orbital Mercury flights took off from Launch Complex 14 in 1961 and 1963. All ten manned Gemini missions began from Launch Complex 19. The Gemini missions took place in 1965 and 1966.

Manned launches switched to the nearby Kennedy Space Center when the Apollo missions began in 1967, but the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station continue to work closely together. Unmanned launches, including those of NASA

space probes-the Mars Pathfinder, for example-take place at the Air Force Station. The station also fulfills its role as one of the two main U. S. military spaceports. (The other is Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California.)

The economies of Cape Canaveral, neighboring Merritt Island (home to the Kennedy Space Center), and the sur­rounding towns now depend on the space industry and the millions of tourists it attracts. The Cape Canaveral area has become known as Florida’s “Space Coast.”

SEE ALSO:

• Kennedy Space Center • NASA

• Rocket • Space Probe

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