First Cape Canaveral Launch

On this day in space! July 24, 1950: First launch from Cape Canaveral

By Hanneke Weitering 

Downloaded today from:  https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html?utm_term=80CFE072-3D22-4ED3-B366-38D5778C5AB2&lrh=979456b06da101021af8477d820fe42a8b8fac61060c8f48a99307e6facca454&utm_campaign=58E4DE65-C57F-4CD3-9A5A-609994E2C5A9&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AC8B93AD-2AA3-4D07-9BD0-912487D7BCB4&utm_source=SmartBrief

Here’s another of those “firsts” we’ve written about from time-to-time over the years of these aviation history vignettes being published.

And this one was a “big one”!  I was but a “glimmer in my old man’s eye” when this aviation/space event occurred, being born a couple of years later. 

According to the website noted above, “On July 24, 1950, the very first rocket to ever launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida blasted off into space.

“The Bumper 2 was an experimental, two-stage rocket that could fly as high as 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth.

Bumper 2 was the first experimental rocket to launch from Cape Canaveral. (Image credit: NASA)

“The rocket consisted of a (WWII German) V-2 missile base topped with a WAC Corporal sounding rocket, and it launched under the direction of the General Electric Company. The mission’s purpose was to test new rocket technologies and collect data about Earth’s upper atmosphere.”

Onward and upward!

Sources:  Space.com, NASA.