CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. In the beginning, there was Bumper.

Fifty years ago Monday, July 24 a modified German V 2 missile, identical to the rockets that bombarded London during World War 2, blasted off from Cape Canaveral, heralding a half-century in which the human race would finally break its terrestrial bonds.

From a mosquito-infested sand-spit where all activity was classified top-secret, Bumper 8, as it was officially called, took to the skies, blazing a trail for robots, chimps, and ultimately, men and women to rocket away from the heavy grasp of Earth's gravity.

Theres been triumph and tragedy since then, but now, Earth orbit, the moon, our nine-planet solar system and the universe encompass the new frontier for human exploration.

The trailhead still is located at the Cape. And these days, you can climb aboard a bus, meet tour guide Mary Glenn, and then sit back for a nostalgic drive back to a clandestine time when the United States took its first baby steps toward space.

Or then again, you can ride along right here with SPACE.com.

"Were going to go see things like the launch pad where Alan Shepard made our first flight into space, and the site where Explorer 1 our first satellite took off," said Glenn, 32, of Kissimmee, Florida.

"Were going to see the place where John Glenn took off on Americas first orbital mission, and well see the sight where the Apollo 1 astronauts died in a launch-pad fire," she added.

"We have a lot of really cool history to cover."

Indeed.

A self-described "space brat" whose father was a NASA engineer, Glenn leads a bus tour that starts with a ride to the Air Force Space Museum at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, an area normally off-limits to the public.

Located in the shadows of an active Delta launch complex, the museum features a "rocket garden" that sprouts exotic early missiles like Snarks, Larks and Bomarcs, not to mention Atlas, Titan and Thor launch vehicles.

Amid the Cold War relics, the first stop is at historic complex 5/6, site of NASAs first two Project Mercury launches.

Looming on a concrete pad there is a real Mercury/Redstone rocket the same type used to launch Americas first two piloted jaunts into space. Standing about 8 stories tall, the rocket is topped with an astronaut capsule so tiny it could fit in the family mini-van.

"Were right here where it all started. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom both took off from this pad. Pretty cool, huh?" Glenn said.

"We were launching on ballistic missiles back then. The capsule is shaped like a bell, and it only has enough room for one person. It was a pretty bumpy ride."

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One immediately wonders whether Shepard despite his reputation as an icy naval aviator might have been a bit anxious waiting for the highly explosive rocket to belch flame and blast him to orbit.

"People asked him that after the flight," Glenn noted. "And Shepard said: `I wasnt scared, but I was up there looking around, and suddenly I realized I was sitting on top of a rocket built by the lowest bidder."

A reinforced concrete blockhouse sits just a stones throw away from the famed launch pad. Its immediately obvious that launch controllers, in the event of a launch explosion, would have been right in the midst of a car-sized-debris zone.

The oldest launch gantry at the Cape stands on nearby pad 26-B, with an Army Redstone missile jutting up through its bright orange work platforms.

If it looks like an oil derrick, thats because it is. Gantry happened to be the name of the engineer who modified it for rocket launches. His first name, however, has been lost to history.

A walk around the rest of the rocket garden yields a look at a bevy of missiles that used to be frequent fliers at the Cape.

Museum volunteer Bob Whitney points out a surface-to-surface, air-breathing missile called Mace A, along with a Blue Scout and real Titan and Atlas ICBMs that once formed the front line for Americas nuclear defense.

Theres a Matador cruise missile and then the strangely named Snark, a pilotless bomber that used to fly out about 6,000 miles (9,655 kilometers), make a high-speed U-turn and then land on skids back at a concrete runway on the Cape.

Whitney, 85, worked on almost all the missiles.

Still a steely-eyed missile man at heart, hell tell you about the time a potentially explosive Matador was launched directly over State Road A1A the main drag that runs between nearby Patrick Air Force Base and Cocoa Beach to celebrate Armed Forces Day in 1956.

"We have gators, wild hogs, snakes and about 300 species of birds, not to mention armadillos, bobcats, raccoons. You name it, we've got it."

Hundreds of spectators gathered at the air base to watch the unprecedented and unusually public test flight, and the media was there in full force.

"They stopped traffic in both directions, and then the missile was launched over the road, trailing purple smoke so that it could be tracked as it flew out over the ocean," Whitney said.

"I dont think the Air Force safety guys would go for anything like that these days."

Whitney also will tell you about the "Snark-infested waters" off the Cape Canaveral coast -- more than a few of the winged missiles failed in flight, plunging into the sea. And hell also tell you about the Snark that got away.

"They lost control of one of those after launch one time, and it ended up in the jungles of Brazil," Whitney recalled. "I think theres some outfit out there now thats trying to recover it."

At the edge of the rocket garden is the blockhouse from which launch controllers staged the Explorer 1 mission Americas first successful satellite launch.

Surprisingly small, the firing room still houses original launch-control consoles, strip-chart recorders and a missile guidance computer that takes up an entire wall.

A Thor-Able rocket, identical to the Explorer 1 launch vehicle, can be seen out now-hazy blockhouse windows that are 15 layers thick.

"This is one of the last blockhouses on the Cape where people can come and see what went on" in the early days, Whitney said.

Back on the bus, the tour continues, rolling by the bunker where Bumper made its famous first flight from the Cape on July 24, 1950.

Off to the side is a decommissioned Minuteman missile silo that holds wreckage from the 1986 shuttle Challenger accident.

Then comes a quick photo-op at the Cape Canaveral lighthouse, which was built in 1847 and served as a beacon for generations of mariners. The black-and-white striped tower juts up next to a roofless red brick building that once stored whale oil to fuel its wick.

"Please be careful. Please dont step in the fire-ant piles," Glenn said. "Were the only ones out here on a routine basis."

The lighthouse site, as it turns out, once was home to a bustling community.

"They called it Stinkmore," said Glenn. "Dont ask me why maybe it stunk around here or maybe there were a lot of skunks."

Whatever the case, about 15 homes, a hotel and a general store once were located in Stinkmore, but the community became an irksome problem for the federal government as missile testing at the Cape started to fire up in the 1950s.

"Every time there was a launch, the town had to be evacuated, and the federal government picked up the cost of putting everybody up in the Brevard Hotel in Cocoa," Glenn said.

That, of course, got to be a repetitive and expensive proposition, so the federal government bought up the land through eminent domain and helped the residents relocate off the Cape.

"The houses were physically picked up and moved," Glenn said. "Were not sure where theyre all at now."

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The tour resumes with a drive-by of Launch Complex 13, the proving grounds for the Atlas ICBM, the nations first intercontinental ballistic missile. A derelict relic of the Cold War, the huge red gantry there once was so secret that workers could not acknowledge its existence.

"Back in the old days, if you asked about what was going on at complex 13, people would say, `what do you mean we dont have a complex 13, Glenn said.

They could have told you, of course, but then they would have had to kill you.

Next stop: a monument dedicated to the Mercury 7 astronauts at the entrance to launch Complex 14, the site where John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordon Cooper climbed aboard Atlas rockets for ground-breaking orbital trips.

Buried beneath the metal monument: A time capsule. Filled with Project Mercury artifacts, it wont be opened until 2464.

"Now I want you to hold on to your tour tickets," Glenn joked, "because were doing a free tour that day."

Up the road a bit is the site of the Project Gemini flights and then comes the last stop on the Cape: Launch Complex 34, where three Apollo astronauts perished in a launch-pad fire.

Glenn asks those wearing caps to remove them, and the crowd gathers around the huge concrete pedestal that once served as the base for a towering Saturn rocket gantry.

She explains how Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee climbed aboard their Apollo 1 spacecraft for a practice countdown on Jan. 27, 1967. And then she details the systems flaws that sparked a flash fire within the cramped capsule.

"The astronauts didnt burn to death," she said. "They suffocated. And on that day, we lost three American heroes."

A few moments of silence ensue in front of a bronze plaque memorializing the Apollo 1 crew. And then its back on the bus for a thoughtful ride up the coast, one that slides by an active Titan launch complex and two new pads being built for next-generation rockets.

The Kennedy Space Center "beach house" where astronauts and their families gather for preflight barbecues -- is off on the right, and then the bus winds its way by shuttle launch pad 39-A.

A flock of wading birds scramble away from a stealthy alligator in a nearby pond. Glenn mentions that KSC is surrounded by a national wildlife refuge, hosts a national seashore park and is home to dozens of threatened and endangered species.

"We have gators, wild hogs, snakes and about 300 species of birds, not to mention armadillos, bobcats, raccoons. You name it, weve got it," she said.

Then, two hours after it began, the so-called "Then and Now" tour ends with a stop at the Launch Complex 39 Observation Gantry a 60-foot (18-meter) tower that offers a panoramic, 360-degree view of the worlds most storied spaceport.

Some tourists trek on to the Apollo-Saturn 5 Center, where the moon-landing project is brought to life; or to NASAs Space Station Processing Facility, where a viewing gallery offers a peak at the agencys cornerstone project for the 21st century.

Others opt to ride back to the visitor center to take in movies and other attractions there.

But in each case, theres a sense that people are climbing off a time machine that has taken them back to the dawn of the Space Age.

"We have people from all over the world from Europe, Australia, Japan, South America and they all are very, very interested in our space program," Glenn said.

"Thats why people take the tour. People want to know about the history of the program. They want to know what went on in the beginning. And thats what makes it really exciting."

The tour departs the KSC Visitor Complex four times a day: at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. To climb aboard, purchase the Maximum Access ticket and ask for the "Then and Now" upgrade. Total cost: $44 for adults, $35 for children.

The Visitor Complex is open every day except Christmas.