In 1961, President Kennedy proposed to Congress the goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Congressional approval led to the launch of the Apollo program, which required a massive expansion of NASA operations, including an expansion of launch operations from the Cape to adjacent Merritt Island to the north and west.[4]
First named Launch Complex 39C,[5] Launch Complex 39A was designed to handle launches of the Saturn V rocket, the largest and most powerful launch vehicle, which would propel the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. The first launch from Launch Complex 39A occurred in 1967 with the first Saturn V launch, which carried the uncrewed Apollo 4 spacecraft. The second uncrewed launch, Apollo 6, also used Pad 39A. With the exception of Apollo 10, which used Pad 39B (due to the "all-up" testing resulting in a 2-month turnaround period), all crewed Apollo-Saturn V launches, commencing with Apollo 8, used Pad 39A.
Skylab program
Launch Complex 39A was used for the uncrewed launch of the Skylab space station on May 14, 1973. This utilised a modified Saturn V originally built for the cancelled Apollo 18 mission. The subsequent Skylab crewed missions launched from Launch Complex 39B using Saturn IB launch vehicles.
Space Shuttle
With the advent of the Space Shuttle program in the early 1980s, the original structure of the launch pads were remodeled for the needs of the Space Shuttle. The first usage of Pad 39A for the Space Shuttle came in 1979, when Enterprise was used to check the facilities prior to the first operational launch. Since then, Pad 39A hosted all Space Shuttle launches until January 1986, when Space ShuttleChallenger would become the first to launch from pad 39B during the ill-fated STS-51-L mission.
During the launch of Discovery on STS-124 on May 31, 2008, the pad at LC-39A suffered extensive damage, in particular to the concrete trench used to deflect the SRBs' flames.[6] The subsequent investigation found that the damage was the result of carbonation of epoxy and corrosion of steel anchors that held the refractory bricks in the trench in place. The damage had been exacerbated by the fact that hydrochloric acid is an exhaust by-product of the solid rocket boosters.[7]
Just as for the first 24 shuttle flights, LC-39A supported the final shuttle flights, starting with STS-117 in June 2007 and ending with the retirement of the Shuttle fleet in July 2011. In total, Pad 39A hosted 94 launches from 1967 to 2011, including 12 Saturn V rockets and 82 space shuttles.[8] Prior to the SpaceX lease agreement, the pad remained as it was when Atlantis launched on the final shuttle mission on July 8, 2011, complete with a mobile launcher platform. The pad was originally going to be modified for the Ares V rocket for the Constellation program in the mid 2010s, looking identical to LC-39B with the three lightning towers.[9] The Ares I was planned to launch on the adjacent 39B but in 2010, the Constellation program was cancelled.
SpaceX
KSC Director Bob Cabana announces the signing of the pad 39A lease agreement on April 14, 2014. SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell stands nearby.
Talks for use of the pad were underway between NASA and Space Florida — the State of Florida's economic development agency — as early as 2011, but no deal materialized by 2012, and NASA then pursued other options for removing the pad from the federal government inventory.[10]
By early 2013, NASA publicly announced that it would allow commercial launch providers to lease LC-39A,[11] and followed that, in May 2013, with a formal solicitation for proposals for commercial use of the pad.[12] There were two competing bids for the commercial use of the launch complex.[13]SpaceX submitted a bid for exclusive use of the launch complex, while Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin submitted a bid for shared non-exclusive use of the complex, so that the launchpad would handle multiple vehicles, and costs could be shared over the long-term. One potential shared user in the Blue Origin plan was United Launch Alliance.[14] Prior to the end of the bid period, and prior to any public announcement by NASA of the results of the process, Blue Origin filed a protest with the U.S.General Accounting Office (GAO) "over what it says is a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease to SpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch pad 39A".[15] NASA had planned to complete the bid award and have the pad transferred by October 1, 2013, but the protest "will delay any decision until the GAO reaches a decision, expected by mid-December".[15] On December 12, 2013, the GAO denied the protest and sided with NASA, which argued that the solicitation contained no preference on the use of the facility as multi-use or single-use. "The [solicitation] document merely asks bidders to explain their reasons for selecting one approach instead of the other and how they would manage the facility".[16]
On December 13, 2013, NASA announced that it had selected SpaceX as the new commercial tenant.[17] On April 14, 2014, SpaceX signed a lease agreement[18] that gave it a 20-year exclusive lease on LC-39A.[13] SpaceX planned to launch their launch vehicles from the pad and build a new hangar nearby.[13][18][19]Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, stated that he wanted to shift most of SpaceX's NASA launches to LC-39A, including commercial cargo and crew missions to the International Space Station.[17][20]
Modifications
In 2015, SpaceX built the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) just outside the perimeter of the existing launch pad in order to house both the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy rockets, and their associated hardware and payloads, during preparation for flight.[21] Both types of launch vehicles are transported from the HIF to the launch pad aboard a Transporter Erector (TE) which rides on rails up the former crawlerway path.[10][21] Also in 2015, the launch mount for the Falcon Heavy was constructed on Pad 39A over the existing infrastructure.[22][23] The work on both the HIF building and the pad was substantially complete by late 2015.[24] A rollout test of the new Transporter Erector was conducted in November 2015.[25]
In February 2016, SpaceX indicated that they had "completed and activated Launch Complex 39A",[26] but still had more work yet to do to support crewed flights. SpaceX originally planned to be ready to accomplish the first launch at pad 39A — of a Falcon Heavy — as early as 2015,[27] as they had had architects and engineers working on the new design and modifications since 2013.[28][22] By late 2014, a preliminary date for a wet dress rehearsal of the Falcon Heavy was set for no earlier than July 1, 2015.[10] Due to a failure in a June 2015 Falcon 9 launch, SpaceX had to delay launching the Falcon Heavy in order to focus on the Falcon 9's failure investigation and its return to flight.[29] In early 2016, considering the busy Falcon 9 launch manifest, it became unclear if the Falcon Heavy would be the first vehicle to launch from Pad 39A, or if one or more Falcon 9 missions would precede a Falcon Heavy launch.[26] In the following months, the Falcon Heavy launch was delayed multiple times and eventually pushed back to February 2018.[30]
NASA removed the Orbiter Servicing Arm — with intent to use the space later to build a museum — and the white room by which astronauts entered the Space Shuttle.[22] SpaceX indicated in late 2014 that additional levels to the FSS would not be added in the near term.[10] SpaceX planned to eventually add at least two additional levels to the FSS, to provide crew access for the Dragon 2 launches.[32]
In August 2018, SpaceX's Crew Access Arm (CAA) was installed on a new level, which was built at the necessary height to enter the Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. It very closely resembles jetways that are frequently found at airports.[33] In September 2018, the refurbished Space Shuttle Emergency Egress System was raised to this new level.
SpaceX added a crew gantry access arm and white room to allow for crew and cargo ingress to the vehicle. The existing Space Shuttle evacuation slide-wire basket system were re-purposed to provide a safe emergency egress for the Dragon crew in the event of an emergency on the pad that does not necessitate using the Crew Dragon's launch abort system".[34]
In 2019, SpaceX began substantial modification to LC 39A in order to begin work on phase 1 of the construction to prepare the facility to launch prototypes of the large 9m (30ft)-diameter methalox reusable rocket — Starship — from a launch stand, which will fly from 39A on suborbital test flight trajectories with six or fewer Raptor engines. A second phase of the construction is planned for 2020 to build a much more capable launch mount capable of launching the entire Starship launch vehicle,[35] powered by 33 Raptor engines and producing a total of 72MN (16,000,000lbf) liftoff thrust when departing 39A.[36]
In August 2019, SpaceX submitted an Environmental Assessment for Starship launch system at Kennedy Space Center.[37] This document included plans for the construction of additional structures at LC-39A to support Starship launches, including a dedicated pad, liquid methane tanks, and a Landing Zone.[38] These are separate from the existing structures that support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.
In December 2021, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that SpaceX has started construction of a Starship orbital Launchpad at the Cape.[39]
On June 16, 2022, the first integration tower segment for the Starship orbital pad arrived at LC-39A.[40] Stacking began on June 21, and the Starship launch mount is also under construction.[41]
Launch history
The first SpaceX launch from pad 39A was SpaceX CRS-10 on February 19, 2017, using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle; it was the company's 10th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station,[42] and the first uncrewed launch from 39A since Skylab.
While Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) was undergoing reconstruction after the loss of the AMOS-6 satellite on September 1, 2016, all SpaceX's east coast launches were from Pad 39A until SLC-40 became operational again in December 2017. These included the May 1, 2017, launch of NROL-76, the first SpaceX mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, with a classified payload.[43]
On February 6, 2018, Pad 39A hosted the successful liftoff of the Falcon Heavy on its maiden launch, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster car to space;[44] and the first flight of the human-rated spacecraft Dragon 2; (Demo-1) took place there on March 2, 2019.
The second Falcon Heavy flight, carrying the Arabsat-6A communications satellite for Arabsat of Saudi Arabia, successfully launched on April 11, 2019. The satellite is to provide Ku-band and Ka-band communication services for the Middle East and northern Africa, as well as for South Africa. The launch was notable as it marked the first time that SpaceX was able to successfully soft-land all three of the reusable booster stages, which will be refurbished for future launches.[45]
SpaceX's Starship orbital Launchpad tower and "catch arm"
The private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company SpaceX has been the lease holder as of April 14, 2014.[18] The terms of the agreement gave SpaceX a 20-year exclusive lease to LC-39A.[13] SpaceX has launched their launch vehicles from the pad[13][18][19] since the launch of the SpaceX CRS-10 Dragon resupply mission in 2017,[51] and crewed missions since the launch of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission in 2020.[52] Currently Pad 39A is used to host launches of astronauts on the crewed-version of the Dragon space capsule in a public–private partnership with NASA.[28]
SpaceX assembles its launch vehicles horizontally in a hangar near the pad and transports them horizontally to the pad before erecting the vehicle to vertical for the launch.[28] For military missions from Pad 39A, payloads are vertically integrated, as that is required per launch contract with the USAF.[28][32]
List of launches
Apollo program
For Apollo program launches from LC-39A see the list of uncrewed and crewed Apollo missions.
Skylab program
For the uncrewed launch of the Skylab space station from LC-39A see Skylab launch.
The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider, defense contractor and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and ultimately developing a sustainable colony on Mars. The company currently operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon and Starship spacecraft.
A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule. It is used in the event of a critical emergency to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, such as an impending explosion. The LES is typically controlled by a combination of automatic rocket failure detection, and a manual activation for the crew commander's use. The LES may be used while the launch vehicle is still on the launch pad, or during its ascent. Such systems are usually of three types:
The crawler-transporters, formally known as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, are a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They were originally used to transport the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs. They were then used to transport Space Shuttles from 1981 to 2011. The crawler-transporters carry vehicles on the mobile launcher platforms used by NASA, and after each launch return to the pad to take the platform back to the VAB.
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs.
A service structure is a steel framework or tower that is built on a rocket launch pad to facilitate assembly and servicing.
Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) is a rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida, United States. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built as the Apollo program's "Moonport" and later modified for the Space Shuttle program.
A mobile launcher platform (MLP), also known as mobile launch platform, is a structure used to support a large multistage space vehicle which is assembled (stacked) vertically in an integration facility and then transported by a crawler-transporter (CT) to a launch pad. This becomes the support structure for launch.
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) is the official title of a large-scale, system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in November 2005 of his goal of returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually Mars—known as the Vision for Space Exploration. The Constellation Program was cancelled in 2010 by the Obama Administration and replaced with the Space Launch System, later renamed as the Artemis Program in 2017 under the Trump Administration.
Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is a launch pad and support area. The site was originally developed starting in 1966, but no launches occurred until 1995, as it was repurposed sequentially for three programs that were subsequently cancelled. Initially to be used for Titan IIIM rockets and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, these were cancelled before construction of SLC-6 was complete. The complex was later rebuilt to serve as the west coast launch site for the Space Shuttle, but went unused due to budget, safety and political considerations. The pad was subsequently used for four Athena rocket launches before being modified to support the Delta IV launch vehicle family, which used the pad for ten launches from 2006 until 2022. The last Delta IV launched in September 2022, and SpaceX leased SLC-6 in 2023 to convert it to launch Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy starting in 2025.
Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), sometimes pronounced Slick Forty and previously Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) is a launch pad for rockets located at the north end of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) is the second of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39A, was first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle, which at the time was the United States' most powerful rocket. Typically used to launch NASA's crewed spaceflight missions since the late 1960s, the pad is currently configured for use by the agency's Space Launch System rocket, a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle which is currently used in the Artemis program and subsequent Moon to Mars campaigns. The pad had also been leased by NASA to aerospace company Northrop Grumman, for use as a launch site for their Shuttle-derived OmegA launch vehicle, for National Security Space Launch flights and commercial launches, before the OmegA program was cancelled.
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
As of 2023, SpaceX operates four launch facilities: Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Vandenberg Space Force Base Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E), Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), and Brownsville South Texas Launch Site (Starbase). Space Launch Complex 40 was damaged in the AMOS-6 accident in September 2016 and repair work was completed by December 2017. SpaceX believes that they can optimize their launch operations, and reduce launch costs, by dividing their launch missions amongst these four launch facilities: LC-39A for NASA launches, SLC-40 for United States Space Force national security launches, SLC-4E for polar launches, and South Texas Launch Site for commercial launches.
SpaceX CRS-10, also known as SpX-10, was a Dragon Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which launched on 19 February 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA as part of its Commercial Resupply Services program and was launched by SpaceX aboard the 30th flight of the Falcon 9 rocket. The mission ended on 19 March 2017 when the Dragon spacecraft left the ISS and safely returned to Earth.
Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a partially reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, designed and manufactured by SpaceX. It was first designed in 2014–2015, with its first launch operations in December 2015. As of 13 April 2024, Falcon 9 Full Thrust had performed 303 launches without any failures. Based on the Laplace point estimate of reliability, this rocket is the most reliable orbital launch vehicle in operation.
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle is a rocket that can lift to low Earth orbit a "super heavy payload", which is defined as more than 50 metric tons (110,000 lb) by the United States and as more than 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) by Russia. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lift launch vehicle classification.
SpaceXCrew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test was a successful test of the SpaceX Dragon 2 abort system, conducted on 19 January 2020. It was the final assessment for the Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 launch system before they would be certified to carry humans into space. Booster B1046.4 and an uncrewed capsule C205 were launched from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) on a suborbital trajectory, followed by an in-flight abort of the capsule at max Q and supersonic speed. The test was carried out successfully: the capsule pulled itself away from the booster after launch control commanded the abort, and landed safely.
↑ Lilley, Steve K. (August 2010). "Hit the Bricks"(PDF). System Failure Case Studies. 4 (8). NASA: 1–4. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 28, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2011. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑ Clark, Stephen (December 12, 2013). "GAO decision opens door for commercial lease of pad 39A". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2013. Musk said he wants to launch SpaceX's commercial cargo and crew missions to the International Space Station from launch pad 39A
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