The First Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral
Explanation:
A new chapter in space flight began on 1950 July with the
launch of the first rocket from
Cape Canaveral,
Florida: the Bumper 2.
Shown above, the
Bumper 2 was an ambitious two-stage rocket program that topped a
V-2 missile base with a
WAC Corporal rocket.
The upper stage was able to reach then-record altitudes of almost 400 kilometers,
higher than even modern
Space Shuttles fly today.
Launched
under the direction of the
General Electric Company,
the Bumper 2 was used primarily for
testing rocket systems and for research on the
upper atmosphere.
Bumper 2 rockets carried small payloads that
allowed them to measure attributes including air temperature and
cosmic ray impacts.
Seven years later, the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik I and Sputnik II, the first
satellites into Earth orbit.
In response in 1958,
50 years ago today, the
US created NASA.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
