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
Portuguese corvette Afonso de Albuquerque (1884) resembled in size and performance the Spanish unprotected cruisers of the "Velasco" class, which were used for colonial duties (and the unsuccessful defense of Manila Bay in 1898). Portuguese corvette Afonso de Albuquerque (1884) The Afonso de Albuquerque (also spelled as "Afonso d’ Albuquerque) was a sloop or small unprotected cruiser of the Portuguese Navy. In Portuguese service, she was classified as "corvette". Launched in 1885, she was named after the 16th-century Portuguese general and governor of India Afonso de Albuquerque. She was decommissioned in 1909. She was a small colonial warship, larger than most gunboats but weaker than a