Ascension Island a staging point by the British military during the Falklands War. Ascension Island hosts one of four ground antennas (others are on Kwajalein Island, Diego Garcia, and Cape Canaveral) that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system. NASA operates a Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) on Ascension Island for tracking orbital debris, which is potentially hazardous to operating spacecraft and astronauts, at a facility called the John Africano NASA/AFRL Orbital Debris Observatory. In 1501, the Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque sighted the island on Ascension Day (which fell on 21 May that year) and named
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501) which he names "Ilha da Conceição" ("Conception Island", it was only named "ilha da Ascensção" in 1503, when it was re-discovered by Afonso de Albuquerque. However, see discussion below.) July 7, 1501 - After crossing the Cape of Good Hope without known incident, João da Nova's fleet anchors at Mossel Bay ("Aguada de São Brás"). There, in a shoe by the watering hole, Nova finds the note left a month or so earlier by Pêro de Ataíde, one of the captains of the returning Second Armada. Ataíde's note warns all captains bound for India that Calicut is now hostile to