The Eastern Range launch facility is located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Atlantic coast of Florida. It's situated on a barrier island between the Banana River and the ocean, which provides a natural safety buffer around the launch area. The installation provides overwater flight for low-inclination and equatorial orbits and includes instrumentation sites along the Florida coast that support suborbital launches and mobile air and sea launches. The facility encompasses 15,800 acres, bordered by more than 23 kilometers of ocean coastline and nearly 20 kilometers of river shoreline. The Eastern Range headquarters are located at Patrick Air Force Base, about 33 kilometers to the south. The base was established by the Navy in 1940 to house antisubmarine patrol planes during the second World War. In 1948, it was transferred to the Air Force for use as a joint long-range proving ground. The first missile launch, a German V-2 equipped with a second stage, occurred in July 1950. The first U.S. orbiting satellite, Explorer 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral in early 1958. The first Atlas V evolved expendable launch vehicle blasted off from the Cape in August 2002.