Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-14 Gateway

Earlier this week Wired4Space had an escorted tour of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  We visited all the historic launch locations and also some of the launch sites that are currently in operation.

Our thanks are extended to the 45th Space Wing and the Public Relations department who organised and escorted us.  We had originally planned on spending 3-4 hours on site visiting and documenting the rocket and missile launch sites.  Arriving at 9am outside the main security gate of the AFS we were met by our official escort who not only kept us safe but showed us all the interesting sights and was able to reel off far more information than our brains could cope with.

It was nearly 7 and a half hours later when we finally finished our tour of the base and left to try and assemble the pictures and information that we had gained into a series of articles which will hopefully track the progress of the Florida Spaceport from the early days of the inaugural Bumper 8 launch in 1950 to the continuing operation and support of USAF, and NASA missions today.

Pinpointing some of the early launch sites was pretty difficult, as there was often just a slab of concrete with no indication of what purpose it served.  Occasionally we got lucky and found some scorch marks indicating where the launch took place.  The actual launch pad locations were found in some cases using a new iPhone App detailing launch pads, buildings, and view points in the area.  We were also able to combine this with real time mapping from Google Maps showing our GPS position.  Technology that would not have been around if not for the 45th Space Wing.

So as we are editing the articles for each location I will tease you with a few selected images from our tour…

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