Huntsville Alabama is home to a wonderful mix of the old and the new. Its population of 160,000 people speaks over 100 languages and houses major US manufacturing plants for major overseas compaines.

On the history side of things, Huntsville has the distinction of being Alabama's first English-speaking settlement and a major contributor to the US Space Program. In the 1950's, Wernher von Braun came here with a crack team of scientists who would pioneer America's efforts in rocketry and space exploration. Their contributions included America's first orbiting satellite, the first man in space, and the first man on the moon. Today, Huntsville is home to the Marshall Space Flight Center, the Redstone Arsenal, and the US Space & Rocket Center. That's why Huntsville is also known as "Rocket City". In an interesting historical side note, Huntsville was the fourth ranked Russian nuclear target during the cold war (behind New York City, Washington DC, and NORAD) beacuse of its housing of the US Army Missle Command.

Huntsville is home to many important technology industries. In fact, 1 in 13 residents is thought to be employed in some line of engineering work. A massive research park containing several hundred compaines works alongside the major Universities of Alabama A&M and University of Alabama.