Huntsville is a city in Alabama. It is the county seat of Madison County and has a population of around 165,000. It was originally settled by John Hunt for whom it was later named. It became the first incorporated municipality in Alabama by 1811. The city thrived from the cotton industry during the nineteenth century, but it was not until the mid twentieth century that the city became more well-known.
With the onset of World War II the city was chosen as the location of Redstone Arsenal, a military base. After the war, captured Nazi scientist Wernher von Braun was brought to the base to work at the Marshall Space Flight Center and develop what would become NASA. Due to its history of involvement with the US space program, the city has been nicknamed "Rocket City", for which it has been famous ever since.