USACE, Missiles, and the Moon

BY USACE OFFICE OF HISTORY

In the spring of 1950, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began building its first missile launch complex at Cape Canaveral, Florida, an area that soon became synonymous with the American missile and space programs. During the next decade USACE built facilities for the military’s Redstone, Atlas, and Titan missile programs at the cape. The Atlas and Titan were powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that later became the backbone of the United States’ early military and manned space flight program.

Titan II ICBM slowly rises from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. October 1962.

NASA

In 1958 USACE received a new and urgent mission – the construction of approximately 1,200 ICBM silos. By the mid-1960s, USACE was supervising construction at 22 project sites spread over 17 states. At the peak of construction, 20,000 workers labored around the clock to build the missile silos.

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Does not imply USACE or DOD endorsement

Much of USACE’s missile experience was applicable to the nation’s civilian space program, and in 1960 the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) approached the Corps of Engineers for design and construction assistance. With the advent of the Apollo program in 1961, NASA turned to USACE to build the sprawling new National Space Technology Center in Mississippi, the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston, and a new 84,000-acre facility adjacent to Cape Canaveral that later would be named the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

The Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, 1966.

NASA

The largest facility was Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center. Built to assemble and launch the giant Saturn V rockets that would carry the Apollo astronauts to the moon, the complex included a barge canal to transport the huge Saturn boosters; the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building where the launch vehicles took shape; a nearby launch control center; and two new launch pads, each covering one-quarter of a square mile. Construction began in 1963, and in 1966 the American Society of Civil Engineers named the project the outstanding civil engineering achievement of the year. AE

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