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Race to the Moon

An aerial view of Cap Canaveral on the east coast of FloridaA rocket lifting-off at Cape CanaveralHow NASA Got Space on Earth

An announcement by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 that the Ubited States would send men to the moon and return them safely to Earth by the close of the 1960s forced NASA to construct its new launch facilities as soon as possible.

Although the size of the launch vehicle for the Apollo rocket had still not been decided, it was generally agreed it would be too big for the launch pads at Cape Canaveral. The first thing NASA needed was a more adequate spaceport. To fabricate and assemble the rocket would require a huge manufacturing plant. Additional land near the factory would be needed to test the booster. Safety and noise considerations demanded an immense area that could contain not only the test stands but a buffer zone as well. And, there would have to be a site for spacecraft engineering and development facilities.

Merritt Island, located to the north of Cape Canaveral, was a natural choice for expansion due to a strong, rocket-based economy, talented workforce and the existing infrastructure at Cape Canaveral that would not need to be duplicated.

 
The federal government’s power of eminent domain has long been used in the United States to acquire property for public use. Typically eminent domain has been utilized to facilitate transportation, supply water, construct public buildings, and aid in defense readiness.
 

 

What is eminent domain? Eminent domain is the right of a government to seize private property for public use, in exchange for payment of fair market value.President John F. Kennedy Memo for Vice President (April 20, 1961)“Now it is time to take longer strides...

Time for a great new American enterprise...

Time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which—in many ways—may hold the key to our future on Earth...

I believe we should go to the moon.”

—President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961

 

 

 

TRACT REGISTER OF ACQUISITION AFTER 1 JULY 1940What is condemnation? Land condemnation is the legal process by which the government uses its power to take private property for the purpose of public use upon payment of just compensation.As a result, NASA requested funds for land purchases on Merritt Island. The first request was for a 200-square-mile area immediately north and west of existing launch sites on Cape Canaveral.

The Army Corps of Engineers was requested to begin acquiring the land by purchase or condemnation. Most of the land was purchased with the cooperation of the owners, but some landowners required court action prior to leaving or selling.

NASA land acquisition totaled approximately 88,000 acres. On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson renamed Cape Canaveral the John F. Kennedy Space Center in memory of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated six days earlier.
 

However, one company had ambitious plans for the area and had accumulated several thousand acres, dredging a basin and canal that would become the port of the new city of Port Canaveral. This company owned the largest and most valuable property of the 200 landowners involved in the trials. The value of the parcel was appraised between $1.2 and $1.5 million by the defendant’s appraiser and between $200,000 and $300,000 by the  government’s appraiser. The appraiser for the government had deducted the planned roadways—land that was designated for public use—from the land value. A lawyer for the defense declared this underestimated  appraisal "highway robbery. "

Each of the 200 parcels required its own determination of value. The trials and  additional condemnation cases lasted over a period of several years. Although the jury often awarded the government’s larger appraisal, it was a disaster for the landowners.