TEAMQUEST'S SPACEFLIGHT HOMEPAGE
In 1949, it had become obvious that the space program was flat outgrowing the site at White Sands. Operations were moved to the Joint Long Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral , Florida. At the same time, all of the Army's Missle program was transfered to Huntsville, Alabama. On 07/24/1950, a two stage bumper rocket was the first of many rockets to launch from the Cape. This is where von Braun and his team worked for the next twenty years.
The Cape was a huge site that could accommodate the
SUPER-ROCKETS that were in the works to take America to the front of the space race. The location was remote and perfect for setting up a launch facility for big, big rockets. That is just what the U.S. was building too! The Army Ballistic Missle Agency existed from 1956 to 1958 and then the entire Missle Agency was transfered to the newly established NASA. The Missle Command was left with the Redstone arsennal and went forward to develop weapons like the Pershing II, the improved HAWK system, and the Chapparel rocket.
Alan Shepard leaves the Earth's grasp.
In 1961 Alan Shepard rode a Redstone rocket on a sub-orbital flight and landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This made Shepard the 1st AMERICAN IN SPACE. The Russians had placed a cosmonaut in Space just days prior, see SPACE RACE. Almost while Shepard was drying off from the splashdown, Kennedy committed the U.S. to building super-rockets and becoming the first nation to reach the Earth's Moon. Kennedy was laughed at all around the world. Few thought that reaching the moon was possible, and most that did, would not admit it!.
This was the beginning of the Space Race, and the U.S. had some catchin' up to do. President Kennedy make it clear that the U.S. would be the first nation to land and have man walk on the moon, and he was serious. The engineers were tuning up there sliderules and their Super Computers.
These room-sized, tube-type, state-of-the-art machines computed slower than a 286/66 home computer. Just think, you are sitting in front of a computer that has more power and number crunching capabilities than a ROOM-FULL of 1965 NASA super-computers. It is true, if you are using a 586 or 686 processor right now, your system is probably 100 times faster than the computer that is shown. The advances in micro-circuitry and the fact that we now have big massive hyper-fast hardrives is the reason. 100 times faster...
Cape Canveral was dedicated to the memory of President Kennedy and was renamed Cape Kennedy. As you know, Kennedy was a driving force in the Space Program in the 1960's. It was Kennedy that released to the entire world, his intentions for The United States to land and walk on the moon. Still to this day, Cape Kennedy is the launchpoint of all NASA Missions. If you are ever in Florida, make certain that you get to the Kennedy Space Center for a tour. You may reach their website at KENNEDY SPACE CENTER HOMEPAGE.
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Last Updated by TeamQuest '96 c/o hotshots@ix.netcom.com on August 15th 1996 at 20:59:59 PDT