History
Pioneering spaceflight and innovation
In July 1962, the Launch Operations Center was established, and by December 1963, it was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Launch pads and towers rose one by one above the scrub land, dotting the shoreline of Florida’s East Coast. By 1960, the Missile Firing Laboratory had become an extension of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. On July 1, 1962, NASA officially activated the Launch Operations Center at the seaside spaceport, granting the center equal status to Marshall and offering the center’s new director, Dr. Kurt H. Debus, a direct report to the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The following year the center was renamed to honor the president who put America on the path to the Moon.
Read About More Kennedy History about Pioneering spaceflight and innovation