Hurricanes don't form less then 5 degrees latitude from the Equator, north or south. Hurricanes form from 5 to 30 degrees latitude, north or south. Actually, that is a safe area for space launching. I saw the latest projections, Ivan is less likely to hit Florida. It is always subjected to change though.
But Florida is about as close to the equator as you can get and still be in the continental US. That's why the Kenedy Space Center is located there. Considering the space program started as an offshoot of military missle programs, there was no way the US was going to launch space vehicles from anywhere but CONUS.