Titusville was founded in 1867 and incorporated in 1886. By 1900 its population had grown to 900. Shortly after World War II, the city entered a period of tremendous growth, stimulated in large part by development of the United States space industry complex at Cape Canaveral. After reviewing a number of sites, the government selected the Cape for its launching program because of its range length, the availability of land, and the undeveloped nature of the surrounding area. The first launch occurred in 1950. In 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began operations at the Cape, primarily launching communication, meteorological, and scientific satellites. In 1963, construction began on the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building, the largest single-story building in the world, originally built to allow the vertical assembly of the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program. Titusville continues to be one of the best destinations for viewing launches from the Kennedy Space Center over the Indian River Lagoon.