cape and city in Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S. The cape is a seaward extension of Canaveral Island, a barrier island running southeastward along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is separated from Merritt Island to the west by the Banana River, and the island is separated from the mainland by the Indian River (both “rivers” actually constitute elongated coastal lagoons). The cape area is the site of operations for the U.S. space program under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Following the death of President John F. Kennedy (Kennedy, John F.) in 1963, the cape was renamed Cape Kennedy, but it officially reverted to its original Spanish name, which means “place of canes, or reeds,” in 1973.

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León visited Cape Canaveral in 1513. Until after World War II the cape was a stretch of barren, sandy scrubland. In 1950, missile testing began there, and in 1958, after NASA was formed, the agency made the cape the basis of its operations for space exploration. The first U.S. manned flight into outer space occurred on May 5, 1961, when Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (Shepard, Alan B., Jr.), was launched from the installation in his Project Mercury capsule, and the first lunar-landing flight, manned by Neil Armstrong (Armstrong, Neil), Edwin Aldrin (Aldrin, Edwin Eugene, Jr.), and Michael Collins (Collins, Michael), was launched from the cape on July 16, 1969. The John F. Kennedy Space Center—including a space shuttle landing facility, a visitors' centre, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and a space vehicle assembly building 525 feet (160 metres) tall with 8 acres (3 hectares) of floor area—now occupies much more than the cape itself. It extends 34 miles (55 km) from north to south and is 10 miles (16 km) at its widest point, spanning the Banana River and covering a large portion of Merritt Island. Nearby to the south is Patrick Air Force Base.