The Kennedy Space Center was established in 1962 as the launch site for NASA's Mercury and Gemini programs, which aimed to put humans into space and orbit the Earth. The center was named after President John F. Kennedy, who played a key role in the development of the US space program.
Over the years, the Kennedy Space Center has been the launch site for many historic space missions, including:
- Mercury-Redstone 3: The first American in space, astronaut Alan Shepard, launched from KSC on May 5, 1961.
- Gemini 4: The first American spacewalk was performed by astronaut Ed White during this mission in 1965.