Shortly after President John F. Kennedy announced bold plans in 1961 to fly American astronauts to the moon, Congress approved development of a strip of marsh and sandy scrub 34 miles long and 5 to 10 miles wide on FloridaÆs east coast. Carved out of virgin savanna and marsh in the early 1960Æs as the departure point for Project ApolloÆs manned explorations of the moon, the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has primary responsibility for ground turnaround and support operations, prelaunch checkout and launch of the Space Shuttle and its payloads, including NASAÆs eventual Space Station. By 1967, Complex 39 was operational. Strategically located next to a barge site, it soon consisted of a variety of structures including a vehicle assembly Building, processing facilities, press site, crawlerways to launch pads and the Launch Control Center. The Vehicle Assembly Building is described as the ôheartö of Complex 39. This huge building, covering 8 acres and standing 525 feet tall, is used for assembly, stacking and mating of Space Shuttle elements. The Launch Control Center is described as the "brain" of Complex 39. Launch, mission support, and loading are controlled here. Twelve manned and unmanned Saturn V/Apollo missions were launched from the Cape between 1967 and 1972, and in 1973 the Skylab space station was placed into high-circular orbit, followed by three-member crews aboard Saturns later that year. The Saturn/Apollo era ended in 1975 with the launch of a Saturn IV/Apollo crew on a joint manned mission with the former Soviet Union. In 1979, a three mile long Shuttle Landing Facility and an Orbiter Processing Facility were built, and the Orbital Flight Test Program began at KSC. Then on April 12, 1981, the first Shuttle mission was launched from KSC. Today, KSC continues lead responsibility for Shuttle integration and rollout, payload processing, launch pad operations, and Shuttle recovery.
