Cape Canaveral
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Cape Canaveral from space, August 1991 |
Cape Canaveral is a strip of land in
Brevard County, Florida,
United States, near the center of that state's
Atlantic coast at . It is part of a region known as the
Space Coast, and is the site of the
Kennedy Space Center, and the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Many
United States spacecraft are launched from either one of these sites; as a result, "Cape Canaveral" or "Canaveral" has become a
metonym for both locations. It sits due east of
Merritt Island, separated from it by the
Banana River.
Other features of the cape include
Cape Canaveral lighthouse and
Port Canaveral. The city of
Cape Canaveral is a few miles south of the cape.
The first rocket launch from the Cape was
Bumper 8 from Launch Pad 3 on
24 July,
1950. On
February 6,
1959 the first successful test firing of a
Titan intercontinental ballistic missile was accomplished here. All manned
U.S. government (
NASA)
spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral.
Cape Canaveral was chosen for rocket launches to take advantage of the earth's
rotation. The
centrifugal force of this rotation is greatest at the
equator, and to take advantage of it, rockets are launched eastward, in the same direction. It is also highly desirable to have the downrange area sparsely populated, in case of accidents; an ocean is ideal for this. Although the United States has sites closer to the equator with expanses of ocean to the east of them (e.g.
Hawaii,
Puerto Rico), the east coast of Florida has substantial logistical advantages over these island locations.
From 1963 to 1973 it was called
Cape Kennedy. President
John F. Kennedy was an enthusiastic backer of the space program, and after his assassination in
1963, his widow
Jacqueline Kennedy suggested to President
Lyndon Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral facility would be an appropriate memorial. However, Johnson recommended the renaming not just of the facility, but of the entire cape. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral
was renamed Cape Kennedy.
Although the name change was approved by the
United States Board on Geographic Names of the
Interior Department in
1964, it was not popular in
Florida, especially in the
city of
Cape Canaveral, Florida. In
1973 the state passed a law restoring the former 400-year-old name, and the Board went along. The
Kennedy family issued a letter stating they "understood the decision";
Jacqueline Kennedy also stated if she had known that the Canaveral name had existed for 400 years, she never would have supported changing the name of the Cape. The Space Center itself retains the "Kennedy" name.
The name "Canaveral"
(Cañaveral in
Spanish) was given to the area by Spanish explorers, and it literally means "
canebrake". It can be interpreted as "Cape of Canes".
In
The Simpsons episode "
Deep Space Homer", a fictitious sign shows its pre-Canaveral name as Cape
Arbuckle, with the implication that its latest name change reflects the Kennedy name falling from favor. Alternately, the Simpsons is lampooning the repeated changes by suggesting that fashion has dictated yet another name for the Cape.
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History of Cape Canaveral*
City of Cape Canaveral, FL*
Microsoft Terra Server image of Cape Canaveral and surroundings*
Google Maps imagery*
Discover Cape Canaveral, FL*
The Straight Dope: Why did they change the name of Cape Kennedy back to Cape Canaveral?*
NASA's official Kennedy Space Center page
