The #Merritt Island National #Wildlife #Refuge was established after NASA decided it didn’t need all of #MerrittIsland, which had been acquired by the government in anticipation of the need for enormous infrastructure needed for the Apollo program, which anticipated 4 launchpads for the Saturn C-8/Nova launch vehicle, which would have used 8 F-1 engines on the first stage.
Eventually, NASA would decide to scale back to the 5-engine Saturn V, and only ended up building two pads.
NASA gave the part of the island they didn’t need to the Department of the Interior, which created wildlife refuges and public beaches like #Playalinda #Beach, where two #willets are looking for food.
#MINWR, #PlaylindaBeach, #WildlifeRefuge, #TringaSemipalmata, #Shorebird, #CapeCanaveralNationalSeashore, #BirdsOfMastodon, #Photography, #Photograph, #Photo
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