Launch Complex 39A (SpaceX)

USA / Florida / Titusville /
 NASA, apollo, interesting place, SpaceX, rocket launch complex
The most famous of the two LC-39 launch pads, LC-39A was first used for the unmanned Apollo 4 mission in October 1967 in which a Saturn V rocket, the largest rocket of its time, was launched. Apollo 6, a second unmanned Apollo-Saturn V test, launched from this pad in mid-1968.

Commencing with Apollo 8 in December 1968, LC-39A hosted the launch of every single Saturn V mission (except Apollo 10 which used the neighboring LC-39B). LC-39A was used for the final Saturn V launch in May 1973, in which a two-stage Saturn INT-21 carried the Skylab Space Station into orbit. Less than eight years later the first flight of the Space Shuttle Program took place from LC-39A, when Shuttle Columbia was launched on April 12th, 1981.

Sharing its Shuttle Program launch duties with LC-39B until the latter's final mission in 2006, LC-39A continued to be the sole Space Shuttle launch facility until STS-135 and Shuttle Atlantis roared off LC-39A on July 8th, 2011.

With the cessation of the Space Shuttle Program, LC-39A was originally slated for conversion for use as the primary launch facility for the Ares V rocket, however the cancellation of the Constellation Program the pad was mothballed c2011.

On 14 April 2014 SpaceX signed a twenty-year exclusive lease agreement pad at which they plan to launch their Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and build a new hangar. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has stated that he wants to move most of SpaceX's NASA launches to Pad 39A, including Commercial Cargo and Crew missions to the International Space Station.

First Launch: 9 November 1967

Saturn V: 12 Launches
Space Shuttle: 82 Launches
Falcon 9 Full Thrust: 10 Launches

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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center_Launch_Complex_39
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   28°36'29"N   80°36'14"W

Comments

  • Good bye Space Shuttle.
  • BulgariaSat-1 was launch by a Falcon 9 rocket at 23.06 2017.
  • It should also be remembered that pad 39-A was used for Apollo 11's mission to land on the moon.
This article was last modified 1 year ago