First Canaveral Launch

Reporters and scientists look on as a new chapter in space flight begins. This day—July 24, 1950—marked the first rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a bare-bones facility that would one day become the world's busiest spaceport. The rocket, called Bumper 2, was an ambitious two-stage unit made using a captured German V-2 missile and an American-manufactured Corporal rocket. It reached a record altitude of almost 250 miles (402 kilometers).