The Space Age on the Space Coast

For many Americans, the concept of "The Space Race" is a ubiquitous feature of K-12 US history curricula. Often framed as an ancillary dimension of the Cold War, or as an inspiring message of American Exceptionalism, the Space Race is emblematic of how we often understand America's global role in the latter half of the 20th century. But the Space Race also represents how and why societies change and how individuals and groups demonstrate agency in the places we inhabit. Places like Florida's Space Coast help us understand these concepts and challenge us to thoroughly and critically examine historical moments.

The Space Age on the Space Coast complicates our understanding of America’s space program, considering technological developments in the context of international tensions while also investigating domestic understandings of race, gender, and the earth as a living system. This Landmarks program will engage educators in authentic historical inquiry that considers place, technology, culture, and justice and provides a framework for how we might prioritize human agency as we study the past and as we collectively learn and grow as a people into the 21st century and beyond.

Planned Site Experiences: Kennedy Space Center, the Apollo/Saturn V Rocket Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, Astronaut Family Beachhouse, Harry and Harriette Moore Cultural Complex, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The Cold War, The Space Race, and International Politics on the Space Coast

The first day of the project is focused on the dimensions of history that we're most familiar with when it comes to the Space Coast: The Space Race. As a dominant historical theme from the conclusion of World War II through the fall of the Soviet Union, the technological innovations and political ramifications of the Cold War on the international stage were unparallelled. It was only eight months after John Glenn orbited the Earth that we faced the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is in this context that the first day will examine the major historical events that underlie the creation of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, and the considerable economic and technological infrastructure that came along with it. With a particular focus on developing an understanding of the socio-historical, economic, and political ramifications of the Cold War, participants will be invited to investigate the role of the Space Race in shaping our understanding of 20th century U.S. and global histories.

Scheduled Landmark(s): Kennedy Space Center, Apollo/Saturn V Rocket Center Bus Tour

Daily Schedule

Shaping American Culture, Society, and Education on the Space Coast

With the backdrop of international tensions, and with the spectre of war in the nuclear age on Americans' minds, the Space Coast played a central role in how we conceptualize U.S. history. While American presidents and congressional leaders tied federal aid for schools to national defense, the social and cultural impact of domestic policy across the 1950's, 60's, and 70's evolved alongside the technological innovations that were driving development on the Space Coast. The Space Coast, on the surface, became emblematic of the next great American project but became juxtaposed with fissures in the fabric of American society like racial violence, rising poverty, and struggles for equality. The second day will highlight these issues as we develop an authentic history of the United States through the lens of the Space Coast.

Scheduled Landmark(s): Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, Astronaut Family Beachhouse

Daily Schedule

The Civil Rights Movement on the Space Coast

The Long Civil Rights Movement documents the historical struggles and racial violence that occurred in the organized effort to bring equal rights to African Americans across the United States. While the Space Coast became emblematic of the technology and rhetoric of the Space Race, it was also a site where the Civil Rights Movement played out. From an entrenched intersection of the Jim Crow South and institutionalized injustice to racial violence and lynching through and beyond Ralph Abernathy's protests of the moon launch, the Civil Rights Movement was a fundamental part of life on the Space Coast as it underscored the international implications of American success in space. This will be the topic for day three, as participants engage in how the Space Coast was--and continues to be--a place that is integral to understanding the Long Civil Rights Movement. We will use Harry T. and Harriette Moore as a case study for understanding the impact that individuals have in advocating for the rights of others, as the Moores were early civil rights activists. They were also early victims of racial violence when they died after a bomb was placed under their bedroom on Christmas Day, 1951. A historical analysis of the Moores' lives and experiences will provide the backdrop for a broader discussion of the unique impact the Space Coast had on the Civil Rights Movement. Participants will be invited to consider how place can be a catalyst for change and justice.

Scheduled Landmark: Harry T. and Harriette Moore Cultural Complex

Daily Schedule

The Evolution of the Space Coast: Inclusion and the Space Race

While the Soviet Union made early commitments to putting women in space, it was some time before NASA did the same. For all of the rhetoric about the Space Race being an example of how American Exceptionalism can shape global history, supported by marketing campaigns that leaned on popular culture like Star Trek to invite new people to NASA, it was clear that only a privileged few were invited to participate. It's a stark reality that even as the Space Coast lies in an area with diverse populations, and that brilliant women sought to join with their male counterparts in the space industries, the Space Age on the Space Coast has been marred by tensions of inclusion throughout its remarkable history. Day four will explore those tensions and lay the foundation for educators to understand how inclusion is integral to both the sustained success of NASA and the Space Race, and the development of the Space Coast. These discussions serve as a backdrop for an examination of how the Space Race has evolved to include a much more diverse popluation of experts and how the modern space industry continues to choose the Space Coast as a base.

Scheduled Landmarks: Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center

Daily Schedule

Reimagining a Future: Nature, Technology, and the Rhetoric of Inspiration on the Space Coast

How the Kennedy Space Force Base came to be located on the Space Coast is a story of contrasting technological innovation within a sustainable, natural world. Our final day will use this distinction as the framework for examining how the Space Coast serves as a beacon for developing sustainable spaces, and how it might function to inspire the next generation of the Space Age. Participants will evaluate contemporary issues of the modern space industry on the Space Coast and address how those might act to help us reimagine what constitutes the Space Age. Participants will spend time in natural areas of the Space Coast and interrogate the questions that need to be asked to both move humanity forward to new adventures in space and to ensure that our decisions serve as a bulwark for a habitable Earth.

Scheduled Landmark: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Daily Schedule