Mosquito Beaters and Rockets: Cape Canaveral's People and Technology from Orange Groves to Apollo

Abstract

The Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral holds a unique place in American memory as the launch site for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), but the space center was not constructed out of a wilderness. This thesis looks at the communities that called North Merritt Island home prior to the arrival of NASA in the early 1960s, in particular the citrus workers and growers who were displaced via eminent domain to make room for the space center. It examines the technology-in-use as employed by citrus workers alongside the technology of the Apollo Program, and considers the implications on the broader community in Brevard County.