Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 24 July 1950
- The rocket was named Bumper 8, and it was actually a combination of the German V-2 rocket and an American sounding rocket.
On this day in 1950, the first rocket was launched from the famous Cape Canaveral in the U.S. state of Florida.
Meanwhile, Cape Canaveral became known as the main U.S. launch site. Rockets with manned crew were launched from Cape Canaveral, as were American space shuttles. Furthermore, all space missions, organized by NASA, were launched from Cape Canaveral. It was known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973.
The named of Name Cape Canaveral was “inspired” by “Cabo Cañaveral” (in Spanish) – “cañaveral” means “field cane” or “sugar cane plantations”, and “cabo” is the Spanish word for “cape”.
Cape Canaveral is located approximately in the middle of the Eastern Atlantic coast of Florida. After World War II, construction of the so-called Joint Long Range Proving Ground began there.
The goal of this launching was to test the functioning of the rocket assembly with two degrees. This first launch was carried out in the vicinity of the outermost part of the mentioned cape known as Cape Canaveral.
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Space Center near Cape Canaveral place was named after him (“John F. Kennedy Space Center”). One of the largest buildings in the world is located within it, and it was originally made for the huge Saturn V rockets designed to send people to the Moon.
