Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 20

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Space Launch Complex 20 (SLC-20), previously designated Launch Complex 20 (LC-20), is a launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. SLC-20 is located at the northern terminus of ICBM Road, between Space Launch Complex 19 and Space Launch Complex 34.

History[]

The facility was constructed by the United States Air Force in the late 1950s for the Titan I Missile Program, modified in 1964 for the Titan III Program, and further modified in the late 1980s for the Starbird launch vehicles[clarification needed] associated with the shuttle Starlab mission. Several Titan I rockets and four or five Titan III rockets were launched from SLC-20. SLC-20 was deactivated in 1996.[1]

In 1999, the site was re-activated to support new launch facilities under the direction of Space Florida for commercial launches. The re-activation included upgrades to Launch Pad A and the construction of a new building along the perimeter road, northeast of the blockhouse.[citation needed]

In 2006, the site was being used by NASA's Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a research and development project to provide infrastructure to test, demonstrate and qualify new spaceport technologies. The site was shared with the Florida Air National Guard.[2]

In February 2019, Space Florida leased the site to Firefly Aerospace so that Firefly could launch small-lift launch vehicles from the Florida Space Coast launch location on easterly launch azimuths. Firefly plans to develop both manufacturing facilities at a nearby Space Florida business park as well as the launch site. Firefly has a similar lease arrangement, this one from the US government, on the US West Coast at Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 2 for a launch facility that has overwater launch azimuths for high-inclination and polar orbital trajectories.[3][4]

Notes[]

  1. ^ "STATEMENT OF BASIS SPACE LAUNCH COMPLEX 20" (PDF). PDF. The United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-08. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
  2. ^ "About ATDC". web. NASA. Archived from the original on 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
  3. ^ https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/22/18234604/firefly-aerospace-cape-canaveral-florida-launch-site-slc-20, 22 February 2019.
  4. ^ Berger, Eric (22 February 2019). "Firefly planning a major rocket assembly and launch facility in Florida". Ars Technica.

External links[]

Coordinates: 28°30′44″N 80°33′24″W / 28.51222°N 80.55667°W / 28.51222; -80.55667


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