How many acres is cape canaveral

This would make launch processing more efficient, decrease the time a rocket spent at the launch pad and decrease the amount of land required for each individual launch area. Initial mobile launch concepts called for a vertical transfer of the rocket from a central assembly area to the launch pad by barge or train. In April, the NASA Future Launch Systems Office issued a report recommending that the assembly area and transfer method be designed specifically for the rocket being used.

A design for the specific technical criteria for the next Saturn-type launch complex, designated Launch Complex 39, was scheduled to be decided upon not later than January, A decision was made to design the launch complex to be technically compatible with whatever program NASA would be supporting, even if this proved to be substantially more expensive than existing launch complexes. Hence, the design of a new launch complex would have to wait until a specific program was adopted. There were three basic methods proposed, each of which would require different launch concepts.

The first would employ one huge rocket called Nova, which would send the astronauts on a direct ascent to the Moon. The second called for the launch of multiple Saturn-type rockets followed by an Earth-orbit rendezvous, then a trip to the Moon. The third called for the launch of multiple Saturn-type rockets followed by lunar-orbit rendezvous.

An announcement by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, that the U. The Nova super booster plan was rejected early, because it could not have been accomplished until after at the earliest. Either of the two multiple Saturn-type rocket launching methods would be better, but would still require the construction of a large, new launch site. By July, the basic technical requirements of the launch site were decided.

These requirements included:. Vertical assembly and checkout of the rocket on a mobile launcher umbilical tower housed in an environmentally controlled building,. Transfer of the assembled rocket and mobile launcher to the launch pad for final checkout, fueling and launch,. Control of launch operations from a remote launch control center with two firing rooms, one for checkout and one for launch,.

A railroad type transfer system of the rocket to the launch pad was initially considered most feasible, but transfer by barge or even roadway were also retained as viable options.

The Air Force wanted to reserve that land to allow expansion of Air Force rocket programs. This forced NASA to review the following possible launch sites:. White Sands was rejected because the site was landlocked.

Excessive cost of development ruled out Mayaguana, Christmas Island and Hawaii. Brownsville, Texas was eliminated because rockets would need to fly over populated areas. Cumberland Island was rejected due to unacceptable interference with the Intracoastal Waterway and a lack of infrastructure. These prevailing factors left Merritt Island as the only logical choice.

Merritt Island produced just two negative factors, which were the high cost of land acquisition and higher than average cost of utilities. Days after Shepard's flight, Kennedy made a pledge to Congress that the United States would send men to the moon and back safely before the decade was finished. This sparked the need for even bigger facilities than the Cape could provide. Only at this location could the same NASA launch organization continue operations on the Cape Canaveral complex while building the spaceport.

Acquisition of the land began in , with NASA eventually acquiring about , acres 57, hectares on the island. The agency then began construction on Launch Complex 39 to launch the massive Apollo-Saturn V launch vehicle, which was feet meters tall.

NASA said these rockets required a facility for construction known today as the Vehicle Assembly Building , platforms nicknamed "crawlers" to transport the rockets between the facility and the launch pad, a control center for the launches and a movable service structure for launch preparation.

There also was the matter of building two launch pads for the rockets to go into space, plus facilities for personnel and storage. A small visitor's center was created on site in and over the years, expanded into today's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Eventually, KSC saw the launch of all the crewed Apollo missions , including 's Apollo 11 — the mission that fulfilled Kennedy's pledge of a human moon landing by the end of the decade.

In future decades, KSC became best known for the space shuttle program; the VAB, the crawler and other facilities were all modified to accommodate the shuttle's smaller height and different systems.

Many space shuttles landed on a runway at KSC. KSC also hosted several missions that ended in failure. A pad test for Apollo 1 on Jan. On Jan. And on Feb. NASA has an annual day of remembrance to commemorate all lost astronauts, and it also has a reflective space mirror memorial in the visitor's section of the complex. Today, facilities at KSC are being reused once again for NASA's Commercial Crew program, which is expected to start sending humans to the space station in , as well as NASA's Orion program that is expected to bring humans out into the solar system in the s.

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