"Then and Now" Tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Back in November 2007, I had the opportunity to join some friends for a "Then and Now" tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The tour went to the now defunct launch sites used in the early days of space flight in the United States. Plus, we were able to visit an active launch facilty with a rocket being prepared for launch. There were several memorable sites that I thought would be of interest for this blog.

One of these sites was the final resting place of Space Shuttle Challenger. As you may remember Challenger exploded just seconds into its launch killing everyone onboard. After Challenger was recovered and the investigation was complete it was sealed in an old minuteman missile test silo located on the Cape.

 The site was not marked at the time of my visit. But, as I understand, there were several organizations that were petitioning the Air Force to allow them to place a marker showing this as a historical site.

Launch pad 17A was an active U.S. Air Force launch facility. We were given the opportunity to get out of the tour bus and take a few photos. However, the group was under the constant watchful eye of security personnel and we were not allowed to venture more than a few yards from the bus. The rocket on the pad was an Air Force Delta II that was scheduled for launch later that month.

If you look closely at the photos, you can see the rocket in the middle of the service structure.



The next stop on the tour was Launch Complex 26. This was the site of the first satellite launched into orbit by the United States. It was also the site of many other launches that paved the way for manned space filght.

And this was one of the computers that controlled the launches!



One of the coolest sites we stopped at was the site that Alan Shepard, the first American in space launched from, Launch Complex 5/6. Shepard launched into space for 15 minutes in a spacecraft named Friendship 7 atop a Mercury Redstone rocket.



The next coolest place we visited was Launch Complex 14. The site from where the first American, John Glenn launched into orbit. There is not much of the actual launch pad left. Most of it was sold as scrap. The rest is wasting away in the Florida weather.



The last site I'll mention here is the remains of the pad where the Apollo 1 fire occurred. The crew of Apollo 1 was killed when fire broke out in the spacecraft during a "routine" test. This caused NASA to change a great deal of its procedures and a near complete rebuild of the Apollo spacecraft. The plaque pictured below is fastened to what remains of Launch Complex 34 in memory of the crew of Apollo 1.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit the Cape, do it! There is a great deal of American History there.