Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The sign at the gate states "Welcome to Complex 14: Launch Site of Free World's First ICBM & Free World's First Man In Orbit". The first ICBM was the Atlas missile and the "Free World's First Man In Orbit" is, of course, John Glenn. The other Mercury astronauts in the Mercury-Atlas program also lifted off from here. The bulbous blockhouse, once launch control for the Atlas missions, is now a conference center and the road leading off to the right ends at the ruins of the launch pad surrounded by returning Florida scrub, the gantry long gone, the remains rusting in the salt air from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The pipes sticking up above the blockhouse are periscopes through which the launch crew inside could see what was going on outside. Page Seven of Ten - - - - SCROLL RIGHT > > > Go to Page Eight of Ten > > > |
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