LOGO OF 50 YEARS CELEBRATION
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER -- NASA opened for business 50 years ago Wednesday, and changed Central Florida forever.
The space agency started nearly one year to the day after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, which was Oct. 1, 1958.
Early launches were completed from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Then, in 1962, the Kennedy Space Center was built to handle the massive Saturn V moon rocket.
Since then, Central Florida has seen Skylab, the space shuttle, and the International Space Station head into orbit from KSC.
"Don't stop at 50,” said Louis Smith, a tourist. “You know, you hear all these things about money being an issue, and sometimes you wonder where's the next dollar going to come from to keep this up. That's pretty exciting, and you can only hope and pray they keep it up."
The next 50 years will start with the shuttle's retirement and the Constellation program.
Anniversary Brings Back Memories To Longtime Workers
The space agency's anniversary is bringing back many memories for longtime workers.
Jack King has been around NASA for 50 years. He was a newsman in 1958, and then became Public Affairs Officer for the space agency, calling out memorable launches for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
He remembers when President John F. Kennedy said the space program's goal was to put a man on the moon by the end of the 60s, and the work that followed to make it happen.
“They have a proud heritage to look back on, and they have great challenges for the future,” King said. “When you think of it another way, NASA is an agency of the federal government, one of its most outstanding agencies that has ever existed because of it's outstanding performance over the past 50 years.”
King said it's NASA's perseverance through tough times, such as the two shuttle disasters, that will get the agency through the next 50 years.
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