Friday, July 24, 2015

Today in 1950 - America Gets a Spaceport



July 24, 1950 

America Gets a Spaceport 


Cape Canaveral in Florida was used for the first time to launch a rocket. The U.S. Army sent the two-stage Bumper 8, which combined a German V-2 rocket and an American WAC Corporal rocket, to an altitude of 51,000 feet in 83 seconds, then exploded it by remote control when it descended to 20,000 feet 57 seconds later

From 1963 to 1973, the area had a different name when US President Lyndon Johnson by executive order renamed the area "Cape Kennedy" after President John F. Kennedy, who had set the goal of landing on the moon. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, suggested to President Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral facility would be an appropriate memorial. Johnson recommended the renaming of the entire cape, announced in a televised address six days after the assassination. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral was officially renamed Cape Kennedy

Born in 1950? 

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