The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana

In the 1960s French scientists had a problem. Algeria had just won its independence and was not very interested in continuing to host France’s fledgling spaceport, leaving them without a launchpad. They needed a site without earthquakes or hurricanes, close to the equator to take advantage of the slingshot effect (using the earth’s rotation for extra energy), and close to an ocean they could launch over to minimise the chance of debris falling on population centres. They found their match in the territory of French Guiana, on the north coast of South America and only 5 degrees latitude nort...