Early history Northern Merritt Island was first developed around 1890 when a few wealthy Harvard University graduates purchased and constructed a three-story mahogany clubhouse, very nearly on the site of Pad 39A. During the 1920s, Peter E. Studebaker Jr., son of
the automobile magnate, built a small casino at De Soto Beach north of the Canaveral lighthouse. In 1948, the Navy transferred the former Banana River Naval Air Station, located south of
Cape Canaveral, to the Air Force for use in testing captured German V-2 rockets. The site's location on the East Florida coast was ideal for this purpose, in that launches would be over the ocean, away from populated areas. This site became the Joint Long Range Proving Ground in 1949 and was renamed Patrick Air Force Base in 1950 and Patrick Space Force Base in 2020. The Air Force annexed part of Cape Canaveral, to the north, in 1951, forming the Air Force Missile Test Center, the future
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). Missile and rocketry testing and development would take place here through the 1950s. Later on, an "Orbital Launch Platform" for Starship with plans to accommodate two
landing zones for
Falcon 9 and
Falcon Heavy rockets to conduct to "Return-to-launch-site" landings. After the
creation of NASA in 1958, the CCAFS launch pads were used for NASA's civilian uncrewed and crewed launches, including those of
Project Mercury and
Project Gemini.
Apollo and Skylab 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. NASA began acquisition of land in 1962, taking title to by outright purchase and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional . On July 1, 1962, the site was named the
Launch Operations Center.
Initial design The need for a new launch complex was first considered in 1961. At the time, the highest-numbered launch pad at CCAFS was Launch Complex 37. A proposed Launch Complex 38 had been set aside for the future expansion of the
Atlas-Centaur program, but ultimately never built. The new complex was thus designated Launch Complex 39. The method of reaching the Moon had not yet been decided. The two leading alternatives were
direct ascent, which launched a single huge rocket; and
Earth orbit rendezvous, where two or more launches of smaller rockets would place several parts of the lunar departure spacecraft which would be assembled in orbit. The former would require a huge
Nova-class launcher and pads, while the latter would require several rockets to be launched in quick succession. Furthermore, the selection of the actual rockets was still ongoing; NASA was proposing the Nova design while their newly-acquired former Army group in Huntsville Alabama had proposed a series of slightly smaller designs known as Saturn. The final selection of
lunar orbit rendezvous and the
Saturn V led to numerous changes. The Nova pads disappeared, and the three Saturn pads were moved southward. The southernmost was now at the current location of Pad A, while the northernmost was located between Patrol Road, the current boundary road for the LC39 site, and Playlandia Beach Road on the north. At the time, the original three were named from north to south: Pad A through Pad C. The pads were evenly spaced apart to avoid damage in the event of an explosion on a pad. In March 1963, plans were formalized to build only two of the three pads; the northernmost, furthest from the VAB, would not be built but reserved for future expansion. As the original Pad A would no longer be built, the naming was changed to run south-to-north, so that the two pads that would be built would be A and B. If the original 39A at the north end were ever built, it would now be known as 39C. Some consideration for C's construction was made: the
Crawlerway initially splits off from A toward B running north-northwest, and then bends north toward B a short distance north at Cochran Cove. Continuing straight north-northeast would have led to C after a similar northward bend. The original construction of the Crawlerway included an interchange between B and a short part of the extension northward for C, which remains intact , and the traffic-light warning system for the Crawlerway has lights for Pad C. The plans still set aside room for the remaining two pads, now known as D and E, or in other plans, D and D Alternate. Pad D would have been built further north, the same distance and angle as the separation between B and C, producing a line of four equally-spaced pads. This would put it in the bay to the west of
Playalinda Beach, close to the original location of the southernmost pad in the original layout. E, or D Alternate, was due west of C, some distance inland along Patrol Road. The crawler way to both locations split off from the path to C, turning due west for a short distance before bending north to reach D, or northwest to E/D Alternate. Had all of these pads been built, C, D and E would have formed a triangle.
Integration of space vehicle stack Months before a launch, the three stages of the
Saturn V launch vehicle and the components of the
Apollo spacecraft were brought inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and assembled, in one of four bays, into a -tall space vehicle on one of three
Mobile Launchers (ML). Each Mobile Launcher consisted of a two-story, launcher platform with four hold-down arms and a
Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) topped by a crane used to lift the spacecraft elements into position for assembly. The ML and unfueled vehicle together weighed . The umbilical tower contained two elevators and nine retractable swing arms that were extended to the space vehicle—to provide access to each of the three rocket stages and the spacecraft for people, wiring, and plumbing—while the vehicle was on the launch pad and were swung away from the vehicle at launch. Technicians, engineers, and astronauts used the uppermost Spacecraft Access Arm to access the crew cabin. At the end of the arm, the
white room provided an environmentally controlled and protected area for astronauts and their equipment before entering the spacecraft. Early diagrams of the proposed layout also included the Nuclear Assembly Building, NAB, northeast of the VAB. These would be used to prepare the
nuclear rocket engines being developed under the
NERVA program, before moving them to the VAB for assembly into a rocket stack. This program was cancelled and the NAB was not built.
Transportation to the pad When the stack integration was completed, the Mobile Launcher was moved atop one of two
crawler-transporters, or Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, to its pad at a speed of . Each crawler weighed and was capable of keeping the space vehicle and its launcher platform level while negotiating the 5 percent grade to the pad. At the pad, the ML was placed on six steel pedestals, plus four additional extensible columns. A further Emergency Egress System was installed to allow fast escape of crew or technicians from pad in case of imminent catastrophic failure of the rocket. The system included seven baskets suspended from seven slidewires that extended from the fixed service structure to a landing zone to the west. Each basket could hold up to three people, which slid down the wire reaching up to , eventually reaching a gentle stop by means of a braking system catch net and drag chain which slowed and then halted the baskets. The system was dismantled in 2012, as seen in this video.
Pad Terminal Connection Room Connections between the
Launch Control Center,
Mobile Launcher Platform, and space vehicle were made in the Pad Terminal Connection Room (PTCR), which was a two-story series of rooms located beneath the launch pad on the west side of the flame trench. The "room" was constructed of reinforced concrete and protected by up to of fill dirt.
Apollo and Skylab launches The first launch from Launch Complex 39 came 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. A total of thirteen Saturn Vs were launched for Apollo, including the uncrewed launch of the
Skylab space station in 1973. The mobile launchers were then modified for the shorter
Saturn IB rockets, by adding a "milk-stool" extension platform to the launch pedestal, so that the
S-IVB upper stage and Apollo spacecraft swing arms would reach their targets. These were used for three crewed Skylab flights and the
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, since the Saturn IB pads 34 and 37 at Cape Canaveral SFS had been decommissioned.
Space Shuttle on
STS-31 whilst is prepared for
STS-35 at
LC-39A The thrust to allow the Space Shuttle to achieve orbit was provided by a combination of the
Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and the
RS-25 engines. The SRBs used solid propellant, hence their name. The RS-25 engines used a combination of
liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen (LOX) from the
external tank (ET), as the orbiter did not have room for internal fuel tanks. The SRBs arrived in segments via rail car from their manufacturing facility in
Utah, the external tank arrived from its manufacturing facility in
Louisiana by barge, and the orbiter waited in the
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). The SRBs were first stacked in the VAB, then the External tank was mounted between them, and then, with the help of a massive crane, the orbiter was lowered and connected to the External tank. The payload to be installed at the launch pad was independently transported in a payload transportation canister and then installed vertically at the Payload Changeout Room. Otherwise, payloads would have already been pre-installed at the Orbiter Processing Facility and transported within the orbiter's cargo bay. The original structure of the pads was remodeled for the needs of the Space Shuttle, starting with Pad 39A after the last Saturn V launch, and, in 1977, that of Pad 39B after the
Apollo–Soyuz in 1975. The first usage of the pad for the Space Shuttle came in 1979, when
Enterprise was used to check the facilities prior to the first operational launch.
Service structures Each pad contained a two-piece access tower system, the Fixed Service Structure (FSS) and the Rotating Service Structure (RSS). The FSS permitted access to the Shuttle via a retractable arm and a "beanie cap" to capture vented LOX from the external tank.
Sound Suppression Water System A Sound Suppression Water System (SSWS) was added to protect the Space Shuttle and its payload from effects of the intense sound wave pressure generated by its engines. An elevated water tank on a tower near each pad stored of water, which was released onto the mobile launcher platform just before engine ignition. The water muffled the intense sound waves produced by the engines. Due to heating of the water, a large quantity of steam and water vapor was produced during launch.
Swing arm modifications The Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm positioned a hood, often called the "Beanie Cap", over the top of the external tank (ET) nose cone during fueling. Heated gaseous nitrogen was used there to remove the extremely cold gaseous oxygen that normally vented out of the external tank. This prevented the formation of ice that could fall and damage the shuttle. The Hydrogen Vent Line Access Arm mated the External Tank's
Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) to the launch pad hydrogen vent line. The GUCP provided support for plumbing and cables, called umbilicals, that transferred fluids, gases, and electrical signals between two pieces of equipment. While the External Tank was being fueled, hazardous gas was vented from an internal hydrogen tank, through the GUCP, and out a vent line to a flare stack where it was burned off at a safe distance. Sensors at the GUCP measured gas level. The GUCP was redesigned after leaks created scrubs of
STS-127 and were also detected during attempts to launch
STS-119 and
STS-133. The GUCP released from the ET at launch and fell away with a curtain of water sprayed across it for protection from flames.
Emergency pad evacuation equipment The launch complex was equipped with a slidewire escape basket system for quick evacuation. Assisted by members of the closeout team, the crew would leave the orbiter and ride an emergency basket to the ground at speeds reaching up to . From there, the crew took shelter in a bunker. The pad fire station operated a fleet of four modified
M113A2 Firefighting Vehicles, a variant of the
M113 APC. Painted in a neon green rescue livery, these vehicles provided viable transportation to rescue personnel and firefighters should they need to approach the pad during a launch emergency. They could also be used to safely evacuate astronauts and crew from the vicinity of the pad. During launches, two manned APCs would be stationed less than a mile from the launch pad (holding firefighters at-the-ready), one unmanned would be stationed on the pad (for extra evacuation capacity), and the fourth provided a backup at the fire station. 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 SRB's flames. 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.
Space Shuttle launches After the launch of
Skylab in 1973, Pad 39A was reconfigured for the Space Shuttle, with shuttle launches beginning with
STS-1 in 1981, flown by the . After Apollo 10, Pad 39B was kept as a backup launch facility in the case of the destruction of 39A, but saw active service during all three Skylab missions, the Apollo–Soyuz test flight, and a contingency Skylab Rescue flight that never became necessary. After the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, 39B was reconfigured similarly to 39A; but due to additional modifications (mainly to allow the facility to service a modified
Centaur-G upper stage), along with budgetary restraints, it was not ready until 1986. The first shuttle flight to use it was
STS-51-L, which ended with the
Challenger disaster, after which the first return-to-flight mission,
STS-26, was launched from 39B. 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. 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.
After Space Shuttle retirement With the
retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, and the cancellation of
Constellation Program in 2010, the future of the Launch Complex 39 pads was uncertain. By early 2011, NASA began informal discussions on use of the pads and facilities by
private companies to fly missions for the commercial space market, culminating in a 20-year lease agreement with SpaceX for Pad 39A. 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. Pad 39B was then planned to have the FSS and RSS removed in preparation for Ares I. However, in 2010, the Constellation program was cancelled.
SpaceX announces the signing of the pad 39A lease agreement on April 14, 2014.
SpaceX COO
Gwynne Shotwell stands nearby. By early 2013, NASA publicly announced that it would allow commercial launch providers to lease LC-39A, and followed that, in May 2013, with a formal solicitation for proposals for
commercial use of the pad. There were two competing bids for the commercial use of the launch complex.
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. 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." 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." On April 14, 2014, the privately owned launch service provider
SpaceX signed a 20-year lease for Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). The pad was modified to support launches of both
Falcon 9 and
Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, modifications that included the construction of a large
Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) similar to that used at existing SpaceX-leased facilities at
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and
Vandenberg Air Force Base, horizontal integration being markedly difference from the
vertical integration process used to assemble NASA's Apollo and Space Shuttle vehicles at the launch complex. Additionally, new instrumentation and control systems were installed, and substantial new plumbing was added for a variety of rocket liquids and gases.
Modifications In 2015, SpaceX built the Horizontal Integration Facility 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. Both types of launch vehicles will be transported from the HIF to the launch pad aboard a
Transporter Erector (TE) which will ride on rails up the former crawlerway path. The work on both the HIF building and the pad was substantially complete by late 2015. A rollout test of the new Transporter Erector was conducted in November 2015. In February 2016, SpaceX indicated that they had "completed and activated Launch Complex 39A", By late 2014, a preliminary date for a
wet dress rehearsal of the Falcon Heavy was set for no earlier than July 1, 2015. 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. 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. In the following months, the Falcon Heavy launch was delayed multiple times and eventually pushed back to February 2018. In 2018, SpaceX made further modifications to LC 39A to prepare it to accommodate it for the crew Dragon 2 mission. These modifications included installing a new crew access arm, refurbishing the emergency egress slidewire system, and raising it up to the level of the new arm. The LC 39A fixed service structure was also repainted during this work. 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 -diameter
methalox reusable rocket—
Starship—from a launch stand, which would fly from 39A on suborbital test flight trajectories with six or fewer
Raptor engines. However, these plans were later cancelled. In 2021, SpaceX began construction of an orbital launch pad for Starship at 39A. As of early 2023, the new launch pad is still undergoing construction and will accommodate launch operations for the fully stacked
Starship rocket. Starship will lift off under the power of 33
Raptor engines, with each engine producing 500,000 lbf of force each, or 16,500,000 lbf for the whole vehicle. Later on, an "Orbital Launch Platform" for Starship with plans to accommodate two
landing zones for
Falcon 9 and
Falcon Heavy rockets to conduct to "Return-to-launch-site" landings.
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, and the first uncrewed launch from 39A since Skylab.While
Cape Canaveral's 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. 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; and the first flight of the human-rated spacecraft
Crew Dragon (Dragon 2) 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. The
SpaceX Demo-2 − the first crewed test flight of the
Crew Dragon "Endeavour" spacecraft, with astronauts
Bob Behnken and
Doug Hurley on board launched from Complex 39A on May 30, 2020 and docked to
Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 on the
Harmony module of the
ISS on May 31, 2020.
Artemis program On November 16, 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the
Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the
Artemis I mission. On April 1, 2026 at 22:35:12 UTC, the
Space Launch System was launched for a second time for the
Artemis II mission. ==Current status==