4 16 cape canaveral and the kennedy space center

15 Corbis Vocabulary cape satellite space race space shuttle space station technology Write to It!. Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center each have a unique place in the space prog

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Scott Foresman Social Studies

Nonfi ction Summarize • Maps

• Time Line

• Captions

• Sidebar

ISBN 0-328-14880-6

ì<(sk$m)=beiiag< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

Fascinating Facts

two different meals to choose from

than five hundred have flown into space

shuttle is so powerful that it can drain a

swimming pool in twenty-five seconds

Scott Foresman Social Studies

Nonfi ction Summarize • Maps

• Time Line

• Captions

• Sidebar

ISBN 0-328-14880-6

ì<(sk$m)=beiiag< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

Fascinating Facts

two different meals to choose from

than five hundred have flown into space

shuttle is so powerful that it can drain a

swimming pool in twenty-five seconds

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ISBN: 0-328-14880-6

United States of America This publication or parts thereof, may be used with appropriate

equipment to reproduce copies for classroom use only

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

Maps

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The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education

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15 Corbis

Vocabulary

cape satellite space race space shuttle space station technology

Write to It!

The old saying “The sky is the limit” means that people can accomplish just about anything they set their minds to How well does this saying apply to the work that has been done by NASA?

When it comes to space exploration, do you think there is really a “limit”? Write a paragraph or two explaining your reasons whether there is a limit to space exploration and what it can accomplish

Write your ideas on a separate sheet of paper

Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space

Center each have a unique place in the space

program For decades, they have served as

the headquarters for launching hundreds of

spacecraft to learn about the mysteries of

outer space In this book you will learn all

about the United States space program and

its triumphs

Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois Coppell, Texas • Ontario, California • Mesa, Arizona

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B an

an

a R

iv

W te rw a

In d

ia n In

tr a co a

st a

Lake Winder

Lake Poinsett

South Lake

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Cape Canaveral Merritt

Island

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR STATION

JOHN F.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

CANAVERAL NATIONAL SEASHORE

Titan IV Complex

Shuttle Launch Complex 39

Shuttle Landing Facility

Space and Missile Museum Port Canaveral

Visitor Center

Astronaut Hall of Fame

Vehicle Assembly Building

BCC Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory

Cape Canaveral Cocoa

Port

St John Titusville

Cocoa Beach Rockledge

0 2 4 Kilometers

City Place of interest

Key

2

The Space Coast

Florida has about twelve hundred miles of coastline

Many of these coasts have special nicknames, like

the Treasure Coast, the Gold Coast, and the Nature

Coast Perhaps you and your family have driven along

the Atlantic to the east of Orlando If so, you have

been to the Space Coast Stretching from Palm Bay to

Titusville, this coast is home to Cape Canaveral and

the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) It is the world’s

center of space exploration

Welcome to Florida’s Space Coast! Fasten your

seatbelts! You are about to take a wild ride into the

space age

3

Building Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral’s story begins in the 1940s Across the country, in New Mexico, the United States military was testing rockets After a rocket crashed, the military knew it needed a new rocket range Cape Canaveral, separated from mainland Florida by the Indian River,

offered the perfect location A cape is a point of land

extending out into the ocean Few people lived in the region Rockets could be launched over the ocean The warm climate also allowed launches to take place all year long Workers constructed buildings, roads, runways, and launch pads In 1950 the United States military sent up its first rocket from the new base at Cape Canaveral

The Early Years of Cape Canaveral

Spanish explorers gave Cape Canaveral its name

when they visited the area in 1513 Canaveral

means “place of the cane.” (There are several kinds of plants in the area that look like sugar cane.) The cape was an important landmark for sailors, and it appears on some of Florida’s oldest known maps Not until the mid-1800s did the first American settlers arrive on the cape Over time, a few small villages sprang up But by the 1940s, the population of the cape stood at only about 100

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Building Kennedy Space Center

In 1957 all eyes turned to space The Soviet Union,

a country that was made up of Russia and other

countries, launched a satellite to orbit Earth

Americans were shocked that they had not produced

the world’s first satellite Only a few months later,

the United States sent up its own satellite from Cape

Canaveral The space race had begun! For the next

few decades, the United States and the Soviet Union

competed to make the most progress in exploring

space The two countries launched more than five

thousand spacecraft

The United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958.

5

To run the new space program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established in 1958 From its base at Cape Canaveral, NASA developed and launched spacecraft But almost right away, NASA started running out of room

Officials looked around for a new launch site They considered many sites White Sands, New Mexico, had

no outlet to the sea Brownsville, Texas, was too close

to where people lived South Point, a Hawaiian Island, was too far away, and it would cost too much money to build a site on it

In the end, NASA looked in its own backyard

Merritt Island was located just north of Cape Canaveral, across the Banana River NASA got to work building a first-class spaceport, or site for launching spacecraft In 1965 the Kennedy Space Center officially opened for business

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Kennedy Space Center

Today, NASA launches most of its space vehicles

with crews from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt

Island On Cape Canaveral, NASA and the United

States Air Force launch spacecraft without astronauts

aboard However, to many people, the name “Cape

Canaveral” means both the cape and Merritt Island

Let’s take a short tour of space headquarters and see

some of the highlights at Kennedy Space Center!

People come to the Visitor Complex to learn about

space exploration.

The Apollo/Saturn V Center serves as a tribute to the Apollo

missions that put astronauts on the moon.

Parts of the International Space System are assembled at the

International Space Station Center.

1

2

3

1

2

3

7

Millions of people from around the world come to the Kennedy Space Center to learn about the space

program Space shuttles are put together at the

Vehicle Assembly Building It is one of the largest buildings in the world and has eight acres of floors The Crawler Transporter weighs six million pounds and travels at one mile per hour It carries the space shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building and the launch pad From the viewing area, visitors to KSC can watch space shuttles lifting off from launch pads 39A and 39B Many

of the launch pads are still being used today Others are historic launch pads Teams direct all launches from the Launch Control Center The space shuttle lands on the Shuttle Landing Facility as a glider If the shuttle lands at another NASA site, a 747 jet carries it back

to KSC After landing, space shuttles go to the Orbiter Processing Facilities There they are inspected, tested, and repaired before their next mission

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Astronauts, Satellites,

and Space Probes

In the early 1960s NASA set its sights on reaching

the moon On July 20, 1969, a spacecraft finally landed

on the moon Neil Armstrong was the first of only

twelve people—all American astronauts—to set foot on

the moon

In 1973 NASA launched Skylab, which was the

first space station The Skylab astronauts lived and

worked aboard the space station for 171 days They

learned about the space environment and the needs of

humans in space

1957

The Soviet Union launches

the satellite Sputnik 1.

1961

On April 12 the Soviets send Yuri Gagarin into space On May 5 NASA sends Alan Shepard into space.

1965

On March 18 a Soviet astronaut leaves his spacecraft and walks

in space.

1958 The United States launches

the satellite Explorer I.

1958

1959 The Soviet Union lands

Lunar 2 on the moon.

Time Line of the Space Race

9 1975

In 1981 NASA opened a new era in space travel with the space shuttle program The space shuttle is the only reusable spacecraft Space shuttles have wings

so they can glide back to Earth on the three-mile-long runway at the Kennedy Space Center Astronauts aboard the space shuttle carry out experiments and repair satellites

Some satellites, like the powerful Hubble Space Telescope, are put in place by the space shuttle It has been orbiting Earth since 1990 and taking spectacular pictures of planets and other heavenly objects In 1994 Hubble captured images of a comet crashing into Jupiter

1969

On July 20 NASA’s

Apollo 11 lands

on the moon Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin walk on the surface

of the moon.

1970 The Soviets land a spacecraft

on Venus.

1972 The United States launches

Pioneer 10 More than a year later,

the spacecraft flies past Jupiter In

1983 it passes Neptune.

1975

A United States spacecraft joins together with a Soviet spacecraft This is the first international space flight.

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Since the 1960s NASA has also been launching

space probes to take measurements and pictures of the

planets and sometimes even land For instance, rovers,

or robot vehicles, on Mars have recently sent back

photographs of a landscape covered with rocks, craters,

and reddish-brown Martian dust

Satellites also help scientists study the earth Cameras

on the satellites help scientists notice important changes

on the earth, like increased water pollution

Satellite pictures also show bizarre natural events

on the earth, and even in Florida Images have shown

a mysterious pocket of water in Florida Bay that has

changed color from bluish-green to black Other pictures

caught “red tides” along Florida’s coast that were caused

by dust from Africa’s Sahara Desert If you go to the

NASA Web site, you can see these images, including

what Florida looks like from space

11

The International Space Station

An ongoing NASA program is the International Space Station, built in the 1990s Space shuttles bring crews to and from the space station Aboard the space station, astronauts carry out many experiments They are eager to learn more about how to keep people in space healthy and safe

Hundreds of people on the ground also contribute

to the program At the International Space Center, some workers put the space station together and test equipment Other workers partner with the space programs from other countries Astronauts also work

in this building after they have trained on models at another NASA site, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas They come to KSC to practice working with the actual machines and tools they will be using in space

Then they blast off!

Some parts of the International Space Station are put together on the ground.

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Over the years NASA technology has led to many

useful inventions that we use every day Some of

this technology just makes doing things easier But

sometimes it actually saves lives Scientists from

the Kennedy Space Center have even worked with

Florida’s police department They have made video

footage clearer and helped the police identify criminals

Whale “Tailprints”

NASA scientists created special software, or

computer programs, to look at how space

shuttles work Today, marine biologists

or scientists who study ocean life, use

this software to track humpback whales

The software creates a file based on the

features of a whale’s tail Using a database,

or collection of information, biologists can

identify the humpback whales.

Infrared Thermometer

Infrared technology first developed by NASA has been used to create a thermometer that measures temperature

in less than two seconds The patient does not even have to be awake!

13

Infrared technology has proved to be a big help to Florida in many ways The Florida Highway Patrol uses laser guns that beam infrared light to catch speeding drivers Firefighters putting out blazes in large

buildings, such as shopping centers, use an infrared camera placed on top of a high ladder The pictures from this camera let firefighters see everything that

is going on in the area Even citrus growers use this technology Planes carrying infrared cameras take pictures of groves Computers then count the trees and identify unhealthy ones

Smoke Detector

NASA needed to make sure no fires broke out on board Skylab, so scientists invented

a smoke detector Today, most states have passed laws that require homes to be equipped with smoke detectors, because they have saved so many lives.

Breathing System

If a fire breaks out on the launch pad, rescue workers need to get on the job fast!

So NASA led the development of special equipment for emergency rescue workers

The new air pack was small, light, and it helped cool the body Today, firefighters and other emergency workers can use this type

of air pack and increase their chances of saving lives.

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The Future of Space

What does the future hold for the space age? No one

can say for sure, but NASA has many plans NASA’s

plans include sending robots and humans to explore

the moon NASA hopes to one day explore Mars as

well Crews aboard the International Space Station are

experimenting with growing plants in space Plants

are necessary for life on other planets, because they

provide food and oxygen Someday, NASA may lead the

way in space settlements

The Kennedy Space Center is also helping other

communities and countries build spaceports NASA

believes that in the future, people and goods will

travel by spaceflight NASA sees a future world

in which spaceports around the globe will launch

many spacecraft each day

Astronauts aboard the

International Space

Station are working to

answer an important

question: Will humans ever

be able to live on Mars?

15

You cannot look into the future and see what the space age will bring, but you can look into the space program Today, the Kennedy Space Center opens its doors to millions of tourists These visitors welcome the chance to learn more about space developments, examine space gear, and experience the thrill of seeing a spacecraft launch Over the years, thousands

of people have settled in the towns along the Space Coast These people combine their skills to create the space program at Kennedy Space Center Perhaps one day you’ll join them, as a researcher, a scientist, an engineer, or even as an astronaut!

The crew for the space shuttle Endeavour pose

together during their training.

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Glossary

cape a point of land extending out into

the ocean

satellite an object launched to orbit Earth

or another heavenly body

space race an unofficial competition

between the United States and the Soviet Union to explore space and land

on the moon

space shuttle a reusable spacecraft that

can carry people and cargo

space station a human-made structure

orbiting in space that people can live in for several months

technology the use of scientific knowledge

to solve practical problems