The First Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral
The First Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral
Credit: GRIN,
NASA
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.
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The First Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral
