ATLAS 5 ROCKET

Stuart, Mother's Day
The sky opened up near sunset time

Moving northward on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from Stuart to St. Augustine is always pleasant. We waited for a parcel to arrive on Tuesday and headed out right after lunch. Our stops were Vero Beach (a mooring ball), Cocoa Beach (anchored), Daytona Beach (at Halifax Harbor Marina) then finally St. Augustine Marine Center. Our catamaran is hauled out 7am! On Tuesday morning as the tides have to be in our favour. Been a long time since we've set our alarm clock!

Near Cocoa Beach is Cape Canaveral and wouldn't you know it, there was a rocket launch at approximately 5:38pm on Wednesday. We saw it and HEARD it big time. Our boat was vibrating from the noise. They were sending up a GPS satellite on the rocket Atlas 5. The day before on our VHF we heard warnings to stay clear of specific areas.

The first rocket launch from Cape was Bumper 8 on July 24, 1950. On February 6, 1959 the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile was accomplished. NASA's Project Mercury and Gemini space flights were launched from Cape Canaveral, as were all of the Apollo flights and Space Shuttles.

Cape Canaveral was chosen for rocket launches to take advantage of the Earth's rotation. The linear velocity of the Earth's surface is greater towards the equator; the relatively southerly location of the cape allows rockets to take advantage of this by launching eastward, in the same direction as the Earth's rotation. It is also highly desirable to have the downrange area sparsely populated, in case of accidents an ocean is ideal for this.