Recommending a Launch Site
During the month of July, the NASA-Air Force team considered eight
sites:
- Cape Canaveral
- Offshore from Cape Canaveral
- Mayaguana Island in the Bahamas
- Cumberland Island, Georgia
- A mainland site near Brownsville, Texas
- White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico
- Christmas Island in the mid-Pacific south of Hawaii
- South Point on the island of Hawaii
Of the eight, the Debus-Davis Report estimated that White Sands would
cost the least to develop and operate. These advantages were offset by
its landlocked location; the lack of water transport would virtually
dictate construction of the space vehicle assembly plant and test-firing
stands near White Sands. Cost alone eliminated the island sites of
Mayaguana, Christmas, and Hawaii, where construction and operation costs
would be more than twice the estimates for White Sands or Cape
Canaveral. The islands also posed severe problems of logistics. Although
Brownsville costs were reasonable, launches from the Texas coast
entailed a serious over-flight hazard for populated areas in the
southeastern United States. Construction costs for an offshore complex
at Cape Canaveral ran about 10% more than the costs of land purchase and
development on shore, and maintenance estimates for the off shore sites
were much higher.15
Cumberland Island enjoyed some of Cape Canaveral's advantages:
accessibility to deep water transport and railroads and no problem with
overflight or booster impact. However, the Air Force listed a number of
problems at Cumberland:
- Interference with the Intracoastal Waterway.
- Expensive launch area instrumentation would have to be duplicated.
- Land-based instrumentation for the early portion of flight would not be
available.
- Extensive communications tie-ins with Cape Canaveral and downrange
stations would be necessary.
- Towns in the area were small. The local economy might not support the
large influx of people.
- The land area involved was primarily marshland.16
The Air Force listed only two disadvantages for Cape Canaveral:
comparatively expensive land acquisition and higher-than-average cost
for electrical power and water. Among the advantages for the Cape, the
Air Force noted that "The Titusville-Cocoa-Melbourne area of Florida is
a dynamic area which has been continuously growing with Cape Canaveral
since the Cape's inception. Therefore, we expect a minimum of problems
in the further area expansion which will be necessary for this program."
Since "practically the entire local area population is missile
oriented," the Air Force foresaw a "minimum of public relations type
problems due to missile hazards and inconveniences."17
The NASA portion of the report cited two disadvantages at the Cape:
labor conditions and the possibility of hurricanes. Local lore assured
Canaveral newcomers that the eye of a hurricane had never passed over
the area. Hurricanes had indeed passed near Merritt Island in 1885,
1893, 1926, and 1960 - one year before.18 As for its labor problem,
Florida had never been an industrial state. Skilled workers in most
categories were scarce, nonexistent in others. This meant that NASA and
its contractors would not only have to call in engineers, scientists,
and other experts from all parts of the country, but would have to
attract craftsmen or train local men on the job for a wide variety of
skills. Along with the men, manufactured goods would have to pour in
from elsewhere, "such as copper wire, power and instrumentation cable,
transformers, oil circuit breakers, generators" - to list but a few.19
Some shortcomings of the Cape went unmentioned in the report. Debus
subsequently stated: "The chief drawback with this particular site was
the danger of being swallowed up by the existing organization."20 This concern perhaps underlay
the interest in Cumberland Island. There were also doubts as to the
area's ability to support the Apollo program. Remoteness a positive
factor in the matter of safety - had its disadvantages in the lack of
housing, stores, schools, and recreational facilities for new residents.
The fastest growing county in the nation, Brevard had scarcely been able
to keep up with the needs of pre-NASA expansion. Debus was keenly aware
of the impact of a NASA-engendered boom on the people of Brevard County,
an interest that later took such forms as a Community Impact Committee
set up by Debus, Davis, and Governor Farris Bryant of Florida.21
