Why Nasa launches from near the equator
According to Nasa, launching close to the equator enables a spacecraft to take “optimal advantage” of the Earth’s spinning speed.
In reality, White Sands, New Mexico, served as the launch site when the American space program was just getting started.
However, they quickly recognized that they needed to find a better site because of the expanding space program, which entailed launching at much higher altitudes than they were at the time.
New Mexico rockets had to launch almost straight up and were only able to reach an altitude of around 160 kilometers since radar and telemetry systems were required to track them.
They rapidly saw that taking off from Florida offered two benefits. It began by making use of Earth’s rotation. From west to east, the Earth rotates. Launching from the east and closer to the equator helps save fuel since Earth kind of gives a rocket an extra lift.
