The shuttle take-off was delayed for a 5th time. Why did they put the Space Center in Florida, where storms are a daily occurrence, instead of someplace like the desert?
by 
Mary Mary quite contrary
ANSWERS: 8
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our government does silly silly things... maybe they like the storm days off of work to go to disney haha
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I'll do ya one better: how about they FORGET the whole thing entirely!?!? It'll be cheaper and I don't think that there are too many people interested in knowing IMPORTANT information like: whether a monkey can get a "boner" in outer space--or if an earthworm can still slither through dirt in ZERO gravity!!!!
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At the time they built the center and started working with the Space Program a lot of the facilities were already there or very nearby including the training sites. The dessert location would mean building from scratch and lots more transportation costs. Also, the dessert would have it's own special problems including blowing sand, terrible heat and lack of water.
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Early rocket development was with variations of the German V2 raocket which of course was not orbital. The balistic arc meant that the rockets could be launched, flown and recovered over water. Keep in mind that the first Mercury launches did not even go into orbit and only flew "down range". Booster stages fall into the ocean. Even today the SRB's fall into the ocean where they are recovered. Most people have a real issue with the concept that debris might land on their house. The desert only makes sense where the entire mission can be flown over uninhabited areas such as was done with the X15. In spite of the weather issues, the location made sense in the 50's and it still does.
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"Cape Canaveral was chosen for rocket launches to take advantage of the earth's rotation. The linear velocity of the Earth's surface is greatest towards the equator; the relatively southerly location of the Cape allows rockets to take advantage of this by launching eastward, in the same direction as the earth's rotation. It is also highly desirable to have the downrange area sparsely populated, in case of accidents; an ocean is ideal for this. Although the United States has sites closer to the equator with expanses of ocean to the east of them (e.g. Hawaii, Puerto Rico), the east coast of Florida has substantial logistical advantages over these island locations." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral
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We could move it, but then the desert states don't have quite the lobbyists that Florida and Texas does.
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It is well south, which saves a lot of energy and hence money in reaching equatorial orbit. Takeoffs head to the east, so if anything falls out of the sky it will fall into the Atlantic instead of on someone's head.
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funny you say that because that is exactly where the first space port is being made. look into "space ship one" http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/092704_scaled_paul_allen_virgin_galactic.htm that should help. +3
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