Image via Wikipedia"[W]hy did the National Aeronautics and Space Administration choose Florida as the nation's launchpad? It's all about the state's location, explains Fred Marschak, an astronomy professor at Santa Barbara City College in California.
From the beginning, NASA needed beachfront property. Early rockets dropped debris, shed spent booster packs, and sometimes exploded. Better to have these scraps and missteps plummet into the ocean than onto American towns.
Plus, blasting off over the Atlantic has an added bonus. "Our Earth rotates eastward," Mr. Marschak says. When space shuttles launch in the same direction, "the Earth gives us a push." This planetary effect is similar to why it's easier to swim with the water's current rather than against it.
NASA also wanted a southern state because the rotational push is strongest along the equator."
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