"cocoa beach florida" a Cocoa Beach Travel Page by doug48

prior to the 1950's cocoa beach was just a barrier island near the fishing village of cocoa florida. because of the cold war with the soviet union the united states chose nearby cape canaveral as a military testing site. cape canaveral, later to be named the kennedy space center began testing snark and matador rocket powered aircraft in 1950. between 1955 and 1957 the military tested the jupiter, redstone, and thor missle programs. on october 4 1957 the soviet union launched sputnik, the first orbiting satellite. this event started the space race between the united states and the soviet union. on november 3 1957 the soviet union launched laika, also known as "muttnik" the first animal into space. on december 4 1959 the united states launched "sam" a rhesus monkey into space and on october 4 1960 the united states launched the first unmanned US oribiter.

on april 12 1961 the soviet union launched yuri gagarin the first human into space. on may 5 1961 allan shepard become the first american in space. on july 20 1969 neil armstrong and buzz aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. on february 18 1977 the united states launched the first space shuttle which is still in operation today. the following is a list of military and NASA programs launched from cape canaveral. 1955 the jupiter and redstone programs, 1956 the vanguard program 1957 the thor program, 1958 the atlas program, 1959 the titan program, 1960 the minuteman and delta programs, 1962 the saturn program and 1987 the athena program. the major manned space programs were mercury 1960, apollo 1961, gemini 1965 and the space shuttle 1977.

the space program had a huge economic impact on brevard county and turned cocoa and cocoa beach into towns known worldwide. cocoa beach also became famous for surfing in the 1960's. ron jon surf shop became internationally known. today cocoa beach is highly developed with high rise condos and hotels lining the beach. fortunately for the tourist there are several parks in cocoa beach that allow beach access. cocoa beach is a very historic and interesting place to visit when in central florida.