(WFTV/CNN) - With the push of a button early Thursday, twin towers at one of Cape Canaveral's most storied launch sites tumbled to the ground, leveling landmarks that have touched the skyline since the early space program.
Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the Air Forces 45th Space Wing, initiated detonations just after 7 a.m. that simultaneously brought down the mobile gantries and fixed towers at Launch Complex 17, just a few miles north of Port Canaveral.
The tower demolition of the towers comes nearly seven years after the complex last hosted a launch, when United Launch Alliances workhorse Delta II rocket flew from Florida for the final time with a pair of lunar probes.
Pads A and B at Space Launch Complex 17 was used in the Air Force's first launch of a Thor intermediate ballistic missile in 1957.
The United Launch Alliance says the site hosted the first launches of communications satellites, weather satellites and early probes researching the space environment.
The roughly $2 million demolition project has been planned for years while awaiting funding and was postponed from last year.
WFTV via CNN Newsource