Cape Canaveral Florida Since 1848
A working lighthouse, a rocket range and a port.
Cape Canaveral had a lighthouse a century before it had a rocket range. The 1868 iron tower still works, the first rocket left the ground here in 1950, and the launches have not stopped. Old Cape Canaveral covers the record.
Latest articles
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Apollo 1 and Launch Complex 34: January 27, 1967
Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died in a fire inside their Apollo command module on Pad 34 at the cape during a launch rehearsal on January 27, 1967. The fire began at 6:31 p.m. and the hatch took about five minutes to open.
April 2026 -
SpaceX at the cape, 2010 to 2020
SpaceX's Falcon 9 first flew from Cape Canaveral on June 4, 2010. In December 2015 a first stage landed back at the cape, the Falcon Heavy followed in 2018, and on May 30, 2020, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley became the first astronauts launched from Florida since the Shuttle.
March 2026 -
The Shuttle era, 1981 to 2011
The Space Shuttle flew 135 missions between April 12, 1981, and July 21, 2011, all launched from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, next door to the cape. Two orbiters and fourteen astronauts were lost, on Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.
March 2026 -
Port Canaveral, 1953 to today
The Navy proposed a harbor at the cape in 1878, the state created the Canaveral Port Authority in 1939, and the port was dedicated on November 4, 1953. Fishing came first, then cargo, the space program and, from 1982, homeported cruise ships.
February 2026 -
The Eastern Test Range: the cape's stations downrange
The range that starts at Cape Canaveral reached Grand Bahama by 1954, Ascension Island for the first 5,000-mile flight in 1957, and the Indian Ocean by 1963. Most of the island stations closed between 1961 and 1988; Antigua went in 2015.
February 2026 -
Apollo at the cape and Apollo at Kennedy Space Center
Apollo's Saturn I and IB rockets flew from Launch Complexes 34 and 37 on Cape Canaveral, including the first crewed Apollo flight, Apollo 7, in October 1968. The Saturn V moon rockets flew from Complex 39 on Merritt Island, chosen in August 1961.
February 2026
Common questions about Cape Canaveral history
- How old is the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, and why is it set back from the shoreline?
The first lighthouse, a 65-foot brick tower, was finished in January 1848, according to the state historical marker at the light station. Mariners found it too short, and a 151-foot iron tower replaced it in 1868. A storm surge in 1871 and the eroding shoreline led the government to take the iron tower apart and move it about a mile inland between October 1893 and July 1894. It still stands there, on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- What was Cape Canaveral's first rocket launch?
Bumper 8, on July 24, 1950, from Launch Complex 3: a German V-2 with a small WAC Corporal rocket on top. According to NASA, the V-2 flew lower than planned and the upper stage separated but did not ignite. Bumper 7, scrubbed on July 19, flew on July 29 and did somewhat better.
- Why was Cape Canaveral renamed Cape Kennedy, and why did it change back?
Lyndon Johnson announced on November 28, 1963, six days after President Kennedy's assassination, that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy, and the next day Executive Order 11129 named the NASA and Air Force launch facilities the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Floridians campaigned for ten years to restore the old name. In May 1973 Governor Reubin Askew signed a state law restoring the name on Florida's maps and documents, and on October 9, 1973, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names restored it for federal use. The NASA center kept Kennedy's name.
- Why was the missile range put at Cape Canaveral?
The committee looking for a long-range missile test site wanted a sea range with islands along the flight path for tracking stations. Its first choice, El Centro, California, fell through when Mexico would not allow flights over Baja California, while Britain agreed to stations in the Bahamas. The cape was sparsely settled, its lighthouse already stood on federal land, and the closed Banana River Naval Air Station nearby could serve as the support base. President Truman signed the law creating the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on May 11, 1949.
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What this site is
Cape Canaveral is the city, the Space Force station and Port Canaveral, three places on one stretch of coast. The Ais lived along the river to the south when the Spanish came. The first lighthouse was finished in 1848 and burned whale oil. The first rocket left the ground in 1950. Old Cape Canaveral covers the record.