"An important, interesting study of the relations between the Kennedy Space Center and the communities of Brevard County, Florida."--Roger D. Launius, chief historian, NASA, Washington, D.C. "This outstanding book provides readers of Florida history our first insight into the impact that high technology has had on the state. Brevard County is a veritable laboratory for understanding what happens when space science and engineering put down roots in a wilderness setting. Faherty's writing is direct, simple, even folksy at times. I devoured it!"--Michael Gannon, author of Pearl Harbor Betrayed and A Short History of Florida Florida's Space Coast tells the compelling story of America's half century in space exploration, from the successful launch of the first two-stage rocket in 1950 through the latest space shuttle missions of 2000.

Told from the unique viewpoint of the people who built the Spaceport, this book shows how the space program transformed the east central Florida coast from a traditional citrus production and tourist area to one of the most influential high-tech centers in the nation. Cape Canaveral was chosen as a missile launch site because of its many geographical advantages. However, in the early years of the space program, the area was far from an ideal place for NASA employees to raise their families. NASA brought in thousands of space-related workers, who, besides sending machines and men into space, had to meet the challenge of moving their families from urban environs to a rural southern county. This book engagingly recounts the parallel stories of the establishment of America's space program and its impact on the development of Brevard County. William Barnaby Faherty is professor emeritus of history at St. Louis University and director of the Museum of the Western Jesuit Missions in Hazelwood, Missouri.