Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)

Learning to Phone Home

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Photographed by Brandon D Cross, June 24, 2021

1. Learning to Phone Home Marker

Inscription.
The first challenge was getting the hardware into space. But even the biggest rocket would be no more than fireworks if we couldn’t ride along – even if was just electronically for the time being. The devices and systems needed for space exploration, such as two-way communications for guiding payloads to exact destinations, setting them to work gathering data and sending it home, began in earnest with the Pioneer program: launching unmanned rockets to the moon.

Pioneer 4, sent aloft aboard the Juno II on March 3, 1959, flew past the moon and into an orbit around the sun. It sent home a huge cache of information that was received at the brand new communications complex at Goldstone Lake, California. Designed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this was the birth of Deep Space Network – our telephone to the stars.

Erected by Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Exploration • War, Cold. A significant historical date for this entry is March 3, 1959.

Location. 28° 31.417′ N, 80° 40.988′ W. Marker is on Merritt Island, Florida,

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in Brevard County. It can be reached from the intersection of Space Commerce Way and NASA Parkway West, on the left when traveling east. Located on Space Commerce Way intersection NASA Parkway West on left traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 405 NASA Pkwy W, Merritt Island FL 32953, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Florida’s Space Coast.

It is also in the American South.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Shooting the Moon, Dreaming of Stars (a few steps from this marker); The Power of Apollo (a few steps from this marker); Chasing the Russian Bear (a few steps from this marker); The Sun Rides a Workhorse (a few steps from this marker); Global Television Arrives

Photographed by Brandon D Cross, June 24, 2021

2. Learning to Phone Home Marker

(a few steps from this marker); Saturn V (a few steps from this marker); Getting History Off the Ground (a few steps from this marker); 1957: Cold War Cooperation (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Merritt Island.

Also see . . .
1. Pioneer 4. NASA Catalogue search result (Submitted on July 6, 2021, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida.)

2. Race to the Moon. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex website entry (Submitted on July 6, 2021, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on July 13, 2021. It was originally submitted on July 6, 2021, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 200 times since then and 18 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 6, 2021, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.