LC-14 Mercury 6 - first American in orbit (Photo credit AF Space and Missile Museum)
It is quite interesting when you talk to people about Florida’s Space Coast. Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center are the two main names that are used interchangeably to reference the area. There are in fact two separate authorities that run the two different space complexes.
The Kennedy Space Center is run by NASA and has the Space Shuttle Launch pads and processing on its property. KSC also is home to the KSC Visitor Center from where the tours of both KSC and CCAFS originate. Currently there are two rocket launching sites at Kennedy Space Center.
The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is where the majority of the current and historic rocket launch pads are located. In fact the CCAFS has more active rocket launching complexes the KSC. Although some of the early missile testing was done in White Sands, New Mexico the race to space took place at CCAFS, with Alan Shepard launching into space from SLC-5 on the base.
Wired4Space has visited all of the historic launch pads on CCAFS, recording the state of all of the sites. Some are very well preserved whilst others have fallen into decay. To find out more about each individual launch complex check out the links below:
Space Launch Complex 1: SLC-1 Snark Missiles
Space Launch Complex 2: SLC-2 Snark Missiles
Space Launch Complex 3: SLC-3 Bumper, Bomarc, Matador,X-17, and Polaris (1st Launch)
Space Launch Complex 4: SLC-4 Bomarc, Matador and Redstone missiles
Space Launch Complex 5: SLC-5 Jupiter, Juno and Redstone rockets 1st US manned flight
Space Launch Complex 6: SLC-6 Jupiter, Matador and Redstone rockets
Space Launch Complex 9: SLC-9 Navaho XSM-64 cruise missiles
Space Launch Complex 10: SLC-10 Demolished Part of LC-32
Space Launch Complex 11: SLC-11 Atlas rockets.
Space Launch Complex 12: SLC-12 Atlas, Atlas Able and Atlas Agena.
Space Launch Complex 13: SLC-13 Atlas-Agena rockets.
Space Launch Complex 14: SLC-14 Mercury Missions
Space Launch Complex 15: SLC-15 Titan Ballistic Missiles
Space Launch Complex 16: SLC-16 Titan and Pershing Missiles
Space Launch Complex 17: SLC-17 Active Delta 2
Space Launch Complex 18: SLC-18 Vanguard rocket
Space Launch Complex 19: SLC-19 Titan I and Titan II rockets
Space Launch Complex 20: SLC-20 Titan I and Titan III rockets
Space Launch Complex 21: SLC-21 Goose and Mace cruise missiles
Space Launch Complex 22: SLC-22 Goose and Mace cruise missiles
Space Launch Complex 25: SLC-25 Sea Launched Ballistic Missiles
Space Launch Complex 26: SLC-26 Redstone and Jupiter rockets
Space Launch Complex 29: SLC-29 Polaris A3 missiles
Space Launch Complex 30: SLC-30 Pershing missiles.
Space Launch Complex 31: SLC-31 Minuteman missile
Space Launch Complex 32: SLC-32 Minuteman missile
Space Launch Complex 34: SLC-34 Saturn Rockets for the Apollo missions
Space Launch Complex 36: SLC-36 Atlas rockets
Space Launch Complex 37: SLC-37 Active Delta 4
Space Launch Complex 40: SLC-40 Active Falcon 9
Space Launch Complex 41: SLC-41 Active Atlas 5 previously Titan
Space Launch Complex 46: SLC-46 Trident II ballistic missiles
Space Launch Complex 47: SLC-47 Active Super Loki Sounder rockets
Great site. Very useful. Thanks for the effort.
One correction for the opening page: “White Plains” is a New York City suburb. “White Sands” is the remote site in New Mexico where the U.S. launched captured V-2 rockets and developed new missiles like Hermes and Viking in the late 1940s and early 1950s — before almost all domestic launch activity shifted to CCAFS and Vandenberg AFB.
Again, thanks!
Russell Stein
Cocoa, FL