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Originally Posted by tofu
Trivia time. Does anyone know why the pad (and KSC) are where they are? I mean, why not build the launch complex closer to the equator, maybe in puerto rico or something?
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Seems easy enough, the facility was built during the Cold War. Its the closest you can reasonably get to the equator in the continental US and not be near any major population centers. I imagine it was also selected for its proximity to water, which in the event of an emergency prior to orbit, you could abort and recover from the waters near the facility. This, of course, would have been the way you would want to recover a Mercury, Gemini or Apollo capsule, which is what flew when the Cape was first converted into a launch facility.
Added: kind of a reach, but I wonder if the location didn't also have to do with its purpose being to support moon launches, and the 'default' launch path would be favorable to the orbital alignments needed for TLI.