List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites

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Map of launch complexes on Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral
Looking east, left-right: LC-41, LC-40, (center) LC-37B, Harrison Island, Vertical Integration Facility, and the ITL Warehouse on CCAFS in 2005

Cape Canaveral and adjacent Merritt Island on Florida's Atlantic coast are home to two American spaceports, one civilian and one military, servicing several active launch sites.

Kennedy Space Center[]

Kennedy Space Center, operated by NASA, has two launch complexes on Merritt Island comprising four pads—two active, one under lease, and one inactive. From 1968–1975, it was the site of 13 Saturn V launches, three crewed Skylab flights and the Apollo-Soyuz; all Space Shuttle flights from 1981 to 2011, and one Ares 1-X flight in 2009. Since 2017, SpaceX use Launch Complex 39A to launch their launch vehicles.

Site Status Uses
Launch Complex 39A Active
Owned by NASA,
Leased to SpaceX 		Current: Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 Block 5
Prior: Saturn V, Space Shuttle
Launch Complex 39B Active[1]
Owned by NASA 		Prior: Saturn V, Saturn IB (Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz), Space Shuttle
Future: Space Launch System
Launch Complex 48 Inactive
Owned by NASA
Never Built
Launch Complex Lc-39c and d [2] 		Inactive Owned by NASA

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station[]

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), operated by the 45th Space Wing of the U.S. Space Force, was the site of all U.S. crewed launches before Apollo 8, as well as many other early Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA launches. For the DoD, it plays a secondary role to Vandenberg AFB in California, but is the launch site for many NASA uncrewed space probes, as those spacecraft are typically launched on United States Space Force launchers. Much of the support activity for CCSFS occurs at Patrick Space Force Base to the south, its reporting base.

Active launch vehicles are in bold.

Active sites[]

Site Status Uses
Launch Complex 13
(Landing Zone 1 and 2) 		Active - Leased to SpaceX Current: Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy first stage landing site[3]
Prior: Atlas, Atlas Agena
Space Launch Complex 37B Active - Used by United Launch Alliance Current: Delta IV Heavy
Prior: Saturn I, Saturn IB, Delta IV Medium
Space Launch Complex 40 Active - Leased to SpaceX Current: Falcon 9 Block 5
Prior: Titan III, Titan IV, Falcon 9 v1.0, Falcon 9 1.1
Space Launch Complex 41 Active - Used by United Launch Alliance Current: Atlas V
Prior: Titan III, Titan IV
Future: Vulcan
Launch Complex 47 Active (has been unused for some time) Current: Rocketsonde Sounding Rocket and Super Loki

Inactive sites[]

Site Status Uses
Launch Complex 1 Inactive Snark, Matador, Aerostat
Launch Complex 2 Inactive Snark, Matador, Aerostat
Launch Complex 3 Inactive Bumper-WAC, BOMARC, Polaris, X-17
Launch Complex 4 Inactive BOMARC, Redstone, Matador, Jason, Draco
Launch Complex 4A Inactive BOMARC
Launch Complex 5 Inactive Jupiter, Redstone, Mercury/Redstone.
The site of all six crewed and uncrewed Mercury/Redstone launches.
Launch Complex 6 Inactive Redstone, Jupiter
Launch Complex 9 Inactive Navaho
Launch Complex 10 Inactive Jason, , Nike Tomahawk
Launch Complex 11 Undergoing renovation - Leased to Blue Origin Atlas
Future BE-4 test stand area for New Glenn
Launch Complex 12 Inactive Atlas, Atlas Agena
Launch Complex 14 Inactive Atlas, Mercury/Atlas D, Atlas Agena
The site of all four crewed Mercury/Atlas launches.
Launch Complex 15 Inactive Titan I, Titan II
Launch Complex 16 Undergoing renovation - Leased to Relativity Space Titan I, Titan II, Pershing 1a, Future: Terran 1
Launch Complex 17A Demolished Thor, Delta II
Launch Complex 17B Demolished Delta II, Delta III, Thor
Launch Complex 18 Inactive Viking, Vanguard, Thor, Blue Scout Junior, Blue Scout
Launch Complex 19 Inactive Titan I, Gemini/Titan II.
The site of all ten crewed Gemini/Titan II launches.
Launch Complex 20 Inactive - Leased to Firefly Aerospace Titan I, Titan III, Starbird, , Aries, , Super Loki

Future: Alpha, Beta

Launch Complex 21 Inactive Goose, Mace
Launch Complex 22 Inactive Goose, Mace
Launch Complex 25 Inactive Polaris, X-17, Poseidon, Trident I
Launch Complex 26 Inactive Jupiter, Redstone
Launch site of Explorer 1 - the first successful U.S. satellite
Launch Complex 29 Inactive Polaris[4]
Launch Complex 30A Inactive Pershing 1
Launch Complex 31 Inactive Minuteman, Pershing 1a.
Used as a burial vault for the Space Shuttle Challenger
Launch Complex 32 Inactive Minuteman
Launch Complex 34 Inactive Saturn I, Saturn IB.
Site of Apollo 1 fire and Apollo 7 launch
Launch Complex 37A Demolished Saturn I, Saturn IB (unused)
Launch Complex 43 Demolished Super Loki
Launch Complex 45 Demolished None

Spaceport Florida[]

Main article: Spaceport Florida

As of 2008, Air Force Space Command committed to lease to Space Florida for future use by the Athena III launch system.[5] It is not known if the plan was subsequently implemented.[needs update] Blue Origin leased Complex 36 in 2015, with plans to launch its reusable orbital vehicle from there by 2020.[6]

Site Status Uses
Space Launch Complex 36A Undergoing renovation - Leased to Blue Origin[6] Previous: Atlas/Centaur,[5])Atlas II[citation needed]
Future: New Glenn[6]
Space Launch Complex 36B Undergoing renovation - Leased to Blue Origin[6] Previous: Atlas, Atlas II, Atlas III
Future: New Glenn[6]
Space Launch Complex 46 Active[7][8] Previous: Athena, Trident II,[9]
Future: Minotaur IV,[10]

Other[]

Site Status Uses
Atlantic Missile Range Inactive High Virgo, Bold Orion, Hound Dog, Skybolt
Grand Turk Auxiliary AFB, Grand Turk Island Inactive Arcas (All-Purpose Rocket for Collecting Atmospheric Soundings)
Inactive , Matador, Snark[11]
Eastern SLBM Launch Area Active Polaris, Poseidon, Trident
Shuttle Landing Facility Active Pegasus, X-37B
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Skid Strip Active Navaho, Pegasus, Pegasus XL
Patrick SFB Inactive Matador

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Bergeron, Julia (13 July 2018). "The most recent version of the CCAFS map (Nov 2017) has made it into our history center for reference. It exciting to see the Commercial Partner landmarks mixed in with space history.pic.twitter.com/ChVhnEl1AY". Twitter.
  2. ^ "Launch Complexes 39A, 39B, 39C, and 39D". heroicrelics.org.
  3. ^ Gruss, Mike. "SpaceX Leases Florida Launch Pad for Falcon Landings". Spacenews. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Launch Complex 29". Air Force Space and Missile Museum. Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Craig Covault (27 October 2008). "Boeing Joins Commercial Athena III Program". Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Coming to the Space Coast". Blue Origin. 15 September 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  7. ^ Messier, Doug (11 February 2014). "ATK to Upgrade Space Florida's Launch Complex 46". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  8. ^ Wall, Mike (26 August 2017). "Converted Missile Launches Military Satellite to Track Spacecraft and Debris". Space.com. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Complex 46". robsv.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  10. ^ "U.S. Air Force's ORS-5 Satellite To Launch on Minotaur 4". SpaceNews. 9 July 2015.
  11. ^ "HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD, CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, LAUNCH COMPLEX 34 OPERATIONS SUPPORT BUILDING" (PDF). National Aeronautic and Space Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.

External links[]

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