Cape Canaveral
Spanish: Cabo Cañaveral | |
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Location in Florida | |
Coordinates: 28°28′N 80°32′W / 28.46°N 80.53°W | |
Location | Florida, United States |
Offshore water bodies | Atlantic Ocean |
Elevation | 3.1 m (10 ft) [1] |
Cape Canaveral (Spanish: Cabo Cañaveral) is a cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River. It is part of a region known as the Space Coast, and is the site of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Since many U.S. spacecraft have been launched from both the station and the Kennedy Space Center on adjacent Merritt Island, the two are sometimes conflated with each other.
Other features of the cape include Port Canaveral, one of the busiest cruise ports in the world, and the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse. The city of Cape Canaveral lies just south of the Port Canaveral District.[2] Mosquito Lagoon, the Indian River, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore are also features of this area.