154-520: Launch Complex 39A ( LC-39A ) is the first 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 39B , was first constructed in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V launch vehicle, and has been used to support NASA crewed space flight missions, including the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and
308-487: A St. Augustine motel pool, in which the owner poured acid into the water during a demonstration, influenced the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act . Economic prosperity in the 1920s stimulated tourism to Florida and related development of hotels and resort communities. Combined with its sudden elevation in profile was the Florida land boom of the 1920s , which brought a brief period of intense land development. In 1925,
462-675: A school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida , leading to new gun control regulations at both the state and federal level. On June 24, 2021, a condominium in Surfside, Florida , near Miami collapsed , killing at least 97 people. The Surfside collapse is tied with the Knickerbocker Theatre collapse as the third-deadliest structural engineering failure in United States history, behind
616-604: A "Free and Independent State". The ordinance declared Florida's secession from the Union , allowing it to become one of the founding members of the Confederate States . The Confederacy received little military help from Florida; the 15,000 troops it offered were generally sent elsewhere. Instead of troops and manufactured goods, Florida did provide salt and, more importantly, beef to feed the Confederate armies. This
770-484: A 200-foot (61 m) evacuation tube running from the Mobile Launcher platform to a blast-resistant bunker 39 feet (12 m) underground, nicknamed Rubber room , equipped with survival supplies for 20 persons for 24 hours and reachable through a high-speed elevator. A further Emergency Egress System was installed to allow fast escape of crew or technicians from pad in case of imminent catastrophic failure of
924-558: A Loyalist stronghold for the duration of the American Revolution . Spain regained both East and West Florida after Britain's defeat in the Revolutionary War and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles in 1783, and continued the provincial divisions until 1821. Defense of Florida's northern border with the United States was minor during the second Spanish period. The region became a haven for escaped slaves and
1078-483: A base for Indian attacks against U.S. territories, and the U.S. pressed Spain for reform. Americans of English and Scots Irish descent began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of Georgia and South Carolina . Though technically not allowed by the government authorities, they were never able to effectively police the border region and the backwoods settlers from the United States would continue to immigrate into Florida unchecked. These migrants, mixing with
1232-500: 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
1386-547: 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 was 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". In 2019, SpaceX began substantial modification to LC 39A in order to begin work on phase 1 of
1540-416: A curtain of water sprayed across it for protection from flames. 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 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). From there, the crew took shelter in a bunker. The pad fire station operated
1694-661: A division the Spanish Crown kept after the brief British period. The British government gave land grants to officers and soldiers who had fought in the French and Indian War in order to encourage settlement. In order to induce settlers to move to Florida, reports of its natural wealth were published in England. A number of British settlers who were described as being "energetic and of good character" moved to Florida, mostly coming from South Carolina , Georgia and England. There
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#17327831529771848-481: 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
2002-434: 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
2156-480: A launch, it deflected the launch vehicle's rocket exhaust flame into a trench measuring 43 feet (13 m) deep by 59 feet (18 m) wide by 449 feet (137 m) long. The four-story Launch Control Center (LCC) was located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away from Pad A, adjacent to the Vehicle Assembly Building, for safety. The third floor had four firing rooms (corresponding to the four bays in
2310-464: 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
2464-713: A mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattoes . The Spanish encouraged slaves from the Thirteen Colonies to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism . King Charles II of Spain issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine , but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-black militia unit defending Florida as early as 1683. The geographical area of Spanish claims in Florida diminished with
2618-596: A number of protests occurred in Florida during the 1950s and 1960s as part of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1956–1957, students at Florida A&M University organized a bus boycott in Tallahassee to mimic the Montgomery bus boycott and succeeded in integrating the city's buses. Students also held sit-ins in 1960 in protest of segregated seating at local lunch counters, and in 1964 an incident at
2772-475: A parking position shortly before launch. While the ML was sat on its launch pedestals, one of two flame deflectors was slid on rails into place under it. Having two deflectors allowed for one to be used while the other was being refurbished after a previous launch. Each deflector measured 39 feet (12 m) high by 49 feet (15 m) wide by 75 feet (23 m) long, and weighed 1,400,000 pounds (635 t). During
2926-636: 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
3080-469: 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 as of 2022 , and the traffic-light warning system for the Crawlerway has lights for Pad C. The plans still set aside room for
3234-461: A total of 72 MN (16,000,000 lbf) liftoff thrust when departing 39A. In August 2019, SpaceX submitted an Environmental Assessment for the Starship launch system at Kennedy Space Center. 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. These are separate from
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#17327831529773388-411: A two-story, 161-by-135-foot (49 by 41 m) launcher platform with four hold-down arms and a 446-foot (136 m) 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 12,600,000 pounds (5,715 t). The umbilical tower contained two elevators and nine retractable swing arms that were extended to
3542-532: Is 3 nautical miles (3.5 mi; 5.6 km) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean and 9 nautical miles (10 mi; 17 km) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. At 345 feet (105 m) above mean sea level , Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Much of the state south of Orlando lies at a lower elevation than northern Florida, and is fairly level. Much of
3696-647: 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 . Launch Complex 39 consists of three launch sub-complexes or "pads"— 39A , 39B , and 39C—a Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a Crawlerway used by crawler-transporters to carry mobile launcher platforms between
3850-806: Is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Straits of Florida and Cuba to the south. About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean . It has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States , spanning approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), not including its many barrier islands . It
4004-469: Is a 312-foot (95 m) peak in Lake County . On average, Florida is the flattest state in the United States. Lake Okeechobee , the largest lake in Florida, is the tenth-largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states , after Lake Michigan . The longest river within Florida
4158-452: Is a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease to SpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch pad 39A." 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." On December 12, 2013, the GAO denied the protest and sided with NASA, which argued that
4312-646: Is now the contiguous United States to be visited and settled by Europeans. The earliest known European explorers came with Juan Ponce de León . Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2, 1513. He named it Florida (colloquially la Florida) in recognition of the flowery, verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers). The following day they came ashore to seek information and take possession of this new land. The story that he
4466-509: Is the St. Johns River, at 310 miles (500 km) long. The drop in elevation from its headwaters South Florida to its mouth in Jacksonville is less than 30 feet (9.1 m). The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by the fact that no part of the state is distant from the ocean. North of Lake Okeechobee , the prevalent climate is humid subtropical ( Köppen : Cfa ), while areas south of
4620-431: Is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of over 21 million, it is the third-most populous state in the United States and ranks eighth in population density as of 2020. Florida spans 65,758 square miles (170,310 km ), ranking 22nd in area among the states. The Miami metropolitan area , anchored by the cities of Miami , Fort Lauderdale , and West Palm Beach ,
4774-438: Is the state's largest metropolitan area , with a population of 6.138 million; the most populous city is Jacksonville . Florida's other major population centers include Tampa Bay , Orlando , Cape Coral , and the state capital of Tallahassee . Various American Indian tribes have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first known European to make landfall, calling
Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A - Misplaced Pages Continue
4928-614: The Space Shuttle Columbia . 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
5082-620: The American alligator , American crocodile , American flamingo , Roseate spoonbill , Florida panther , bottlenose dolphin , and manatee . The Florida Reef is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States, and the third-largest coral barrier reef system in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef and the Belize Barrier Reef . Paleo-Indians entered Florida at least 14,000 years ago. By
5236-683: 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. 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
5390-767: The Arabsat-6A communications satellite for Arabsat of Saudi Arabia, successfully launched on April 11, 2019. The satellite is to provide K u -band and K a -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 were to be refurbished for future launches. The Crew Dragon Demo-2 test flight launched with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley from Launch Complex 39A on 30 May 2020, and docked to pressurised mating adapter PMA-2 on
5544-664: The Black Lives Matter movement. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017, a large population of Puerto Ricans began moving to Florida to escape the widespread destruction. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans arrived in Florida after Maria dissipated, with nearly half of them arriving in Orlando and large populations also moving to Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. A handful of high-profile mass shootings have occurred in Florida in
5698-586: The Civil War on June 25, 1868. Since the mid-20th century, Florida has experienced rapid demographic and economic growth. Its economy , with a gross state product (GSP) of $ 1.647 trillion, is the fourth largest of any U.S. state and the 15th-largest in the world; the main sectors are tourism , hospitality , agriculture , real estate, and transportation . Florida is world-renowned for its beach resorts , amusement parks , warm and sunny climate, and nautical recreation; attractions such as Walt Disney World ,
5852-620: The First Seminole War . The United States now effectively controlled East Florida. Control was necessary according to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams because Florida had become "a derelict open to the occupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them." More recent historians describe that after U.S. independence, settlers in Georgia increased pressure on Seminole lands, and skirmishes near
6006-461: The Government of Florida . The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian, occurred in 1565 in St. Augustine. It is the first recorded Christian marriage in the continental United States. Some Floridanos married or had unions with Pensacola , Creek , or African women, both slave and free, and their descendants created
6160-605: The Harmony module of the ISS on 31 May 2020. The first operational Commercial Crew mission Crew-1 was launched on November 15, 2020 . SpaceX launched the IM-1 robotic lander for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program on 15 February 2024, returning the pad to Lunar missions since the end of the Apollo program. The Starlink Group 6-56 mission launched on 8 May 2024, and was
6314-526: The Hyatt Regency walkway collapse and the collapse of the Pemberton Mill . Much of Florida is on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and the Straits of Florida . Spanning two time zones , it extends to the northwest into a panhandle , extending along the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is bordered on the north by Georgia and Alabama , and on the west, at the end of
Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A - Misplaced Pages Continue
6468-761: The International Space Station . 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. Both types of launch vehicles are transported from the HIF to the launch pad aboard a Transporter Erector (TE) which rides on rails up
6622-680: The Kennedy Space Center , and Miami Beach draw tens of millions of visitors annually. Florida is a popular destination for retirees , seasonal vacationers , and both domestic and international migrants; it hosts nine out of the ten fastest-growing communities in the U.S. The state's close proximity to the ocean has shaped its culture , identity, and daily life; its colonial history and successive waves of migration are reflected in African , European , Indigenous , Latino , and Asian influences. Florida has attracted or inspired some of
6776-579: The King's Road connecting St. Augustine to Georgia . The road crossed the St. Johns River at a narrow point called Wacca Pilatka , now the core of Downtown Jacksonville , and formerly referred to by the British name "Cow Ford", reflecting the fact that cattle were brought across the river there. The British divided and consolidated the Florida provinces ( Las Floridas ) into East Florida and West Florida ,
6930-635: The Kingdom of Great Britain for control of Havana , Cuba , which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War . The trade was done as part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years' War. Spain was granted Louisiana from France due to their loss of Florida. A large portion of the Florida population left, taking along large portions of the remaining Indigenous population with them to Cuba. The British soon constructed
7084-664: The Rotating Service Structure (RSS) and removed it beginning in February 2016. 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. SpaceX indicated in late 2014 that additional levels to the FSS would not be added in the near term. SpaceX planned to eventually add at least two additional levels to
7238-589: The Seaboard Air Line broke the FEC's southeast Florida monopoly and extended its freight and passenger service to West Palm Beach; two years later it extended passenger service to Miami. Devastating hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 , followed by the Great Depression , brought that period to a halt. Florida's economy did not fully recover until the military buildup for World War II . In 1939, Florida
7392-638: The Second Seminole War (1835–1842). Following the war, approximately 3,000 Seminole and 800 Black Seminole were removed to Indian Territory . A few hundred Seminole remained in Florida in the Everglades . On March 3, 1845, only one day before the end of President John Tyler 's term in office, Florida became the 27th state, admitted as a slave state and no longer a sanctuary for runaway slaves. Initially its population grew slowly. As European settlers continued to encroach on Seminole lands,
7546-534: The Space Shuttle . The site is currently leased by SpaceX and supports launches of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. In 1961, U.S. President Kennedy proposed to the U.S. 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
7700-646: The Third Seminole War (1855–1858), having taken refuge in the Everglades, from where they never surrendered to the US. They fostered a resurgence in traditional customs and a culture of staunch independence. Florida had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or troops due to the devastation caused by the Peninsular War . Madrid, therefore, decided to cede the territory to
7854-441: The Treaty of Payne's Landing (1832), which called for the relocation of all Seminole to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma ). Some resisted, leading to the Second Seminole War , the bloodiest war against Native Americans in United States history. By 1842, most Seminoles and Black Seminoles, facing starvation, were removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River . Perhaps fewer than 200 Seminoles remained in Florida after
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#17327831529778008-455: 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 . 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
8162-423: The 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major groups of people living in Florida included the Apalachee of the Florida Panhandle , the Timucua of northern and central Florida, the Ais of the central Atlantic coast, the Mayaimi of the Lake Okeechobee area, the Tequesta of southeastern Florida, and the Calusa of southwest Florida. Florida was the first region of what
8316-477: The 1950s. 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 . 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
8470-442: The 21st century. In June 2016, a gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando . It is the deadliest incident in the history of violence against LGBT people in the United States , as well as the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since the September 11 attacks in 2001, and it was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history until the 2017 Las Vegas shooting . In February 2018, 17 people were killed in
8624-408: 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". NASA had planned to complete
8778-473: The Cape to adjacent Merritt Island to the north and west. First named Launch Complex 39C, 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
8932-408: The Cape to adjacent Merritt Island to the north and west. NASA began acquisition of land in 1962, taking title to 131 square miles (340 km ) by outright purchase and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km ). On July 1, 1962, the site was named the Launch Operations Center . The need for a new launch complex was first considered in 1961. At the time,
9086-410: The Castilian language, and more to Florida. Spain established several settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. In 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola , making it one of the first settlements in Florida, but it was mostly abandoned by 1561. In 1564–1565, there was a French settlement at Fort Caroline , in present Duval County , which
9240-441: The Constellation program was cancelled. 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
9394-460: The Constellation program was cancelled. 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. By early 2013, NASA publicly announced that it would allow commercial launch providers to lease LC-39A, and followed that, in May 2013, with
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#17327831529779548-429: 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
9702-434: The FSS, to provide crew access for the Dragon 2 launches. 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. In September 2018, the refurbished Space Shuttle Emergency Egress System was raised to this new level. SpaceX added
9856-443: The Falcon 9's 83rd launch from LC-39A. That milestone made the rocket family the pad leader for launches from that launch complex, surpassing the Space Shuttle's 82 launches. The private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company SpaceX has been the lease holder as of April 14, 2014. The terms of the agreement gave SpaceX a 20-year exclusive lease to LC-39A. SpaceX has launched their launch vehicles from
10010-501: 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
10164-407: The Floridas, and in the meantime they were, with the advice of councils, to establish courts. This was the first introduction of the English-derived legal system which Florida still has today, including trial by jury , habeas corpus and county-based government. Neither East Florida nor West Florida sent any representatives to Philadelphia to draft the Declaration of Independence . Florida remained
10318-436: The Indians from Florida. Seminoles offered sanctuary to blacks, and these became known as the Black Seminoles , and clashes between whites and Indians grew with the influx of new settlers. In 1832, the Treaty of Payne's Landing promised to the Seminoles lands west of the Mississippi River if they agreed to leave Florida. Many Seminoles left at this time. Some Seminoles remained, and the U.S. Army arrived in Florida, leading to
10472-451: The Indians. Most non-Indian residents were soldiers stationed at Fort Dallas . It was the most devastating Indian war in American history, causing almost a total loss of population in Miami. After the Second Seminole War ended in 1842, William English re-established a plantation started by his uncle on the Miami River . He charted the "Village of Miami" on the south bank of the Miami River and sold several plots of land. In 1844, Miami became
10626-442: The ML was set in place, the crawler-transporter rolled a 410-foot (125 m), 10,490,000-pound (4,760 t) Mobile Service Structure (MSS) into place to provide further access for technicians to perform a detailed checkout of the vehicle, and to provide necessary umbilical connections to the pad. The MSS contained three elevators, two self-propelled platforms, and three fixed platforms. It was rolled back 6,900 feet (2,100 m) to
10780-440: 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 Dragon 2 ; ( Demo-1 ) took place there on March 2, 2019. The second Falcon Heavy flight, carrying
10934-462: The Mobile District of West Florida to the Mississippi Territory in 1812. Spain continued to dispute the area, though the United States gradually increased the area it occupied. In 1812, a group of settlers from Georgia, with de facto support from the U.S. federal government, attempted to overthrow the Floridan government in the province of East Florida. The settlers hoped to convince Floridians to join their cause and proclaim independence from Spain, but
11088-556: The NASA Launch Control Center (LCC), located 3 miles (4.8 km) from the launch pads. LC-39 is one of several launch sites that share the radar and tracking services of the Eastern Test Range . Northern Merritt Island was first developed around 1890 when a few wealthy Harvard University graduates purchased 18,000 acres (73 km ) and constructed a three-story mahogany clubhouse, very nearly on
11242-615: 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 ,
11396-579: 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. The Ares I was planned to launch on the adjacent 39B but in 2010,
11550-530: The United States intervened to move the remaining Seminoles to the West. The Third Seminole War (1855–1858) resulted in the forced removal of most of the remaining Seminoles, although hundreds of Seminole Indians remained in the Everglades. The first settlements and towns in South Florida were founded much later than those in the northern part of the state. The first permanent European settlers arrived in
11704-461: The United States through the Adams–Onís Treaty , which took effect in 1821. President James Monroe was authorized on March 3, 1821, to take possession of East Florida and West Florida for the United States and provide for initial governance. On behalf of the U.S. government, Andrew Jackson , whom Jacksonville is named after, served as a military commissioner with the powers of governor of
11858-513: The VAB and the pads, Orbiter Processing Facility buildings, a Launch Control Center which contains the firing rooms, a news facility famous for the iconic countdown clock seen in television coverage and photos, and various logistical and operational support buildings. SpaceX leases Launch Complex 39A from NASA and has modified the pad to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. NASA began modifying Launch Complex 39B in 2007 to accommodate
12012-582: The VAB), each with 470 sets of control and monitoring equipment. The second floor contained telemetry, tracking, instrumentation, and data reduction computing equipment. The LCC was connected to the Mobile Launcher Platforms by a high-speed data link; and during launch a system of 62 closed-circuit television cameras transmitted to 100 monitor screens in the LCC. Large cryogenic tanks located near
12166-523: 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
12320-438: 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 Shuttle Challenger would become
12474-559: The already present British settlers who had remained in Florida since the British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as Florida Crackers . These American settlers established a permanent foothold in the area. The British settlers who had remained also resented Spanish governance, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for ninety days of the so-called Free and Independent Republic of West Florida on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame
12628-657: The baskets. The system was dismantled in 2012, as seen in this video . 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 20 feet (6.1 m) of fill dirt. The first launch from Launch Complex 39 came in 1967 with
12782-460: 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". 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
12936-709: The border dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas . Florida was admitted as the 27th state on March 3, 1845, and was the principal location of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), the longest and most extensive of the American Indian Wars . The state seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, becoming one of the seven original Confederate States , and was readmitted to the Union after
13090-592: The border led to the First Seminole War (1816–1819). The United States purchased Florida from Spain by the Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) and took possession in 1821. The Seminole were moved out of their rich farmland in northern Florida and confined to a large reservation in the interior of the Florida peninsula by the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823). Passage of the Indian Removal Act (1830) led to
13244-553: 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. SpaceX used the former Fixed Service Structure (FSS) of the Pad 39A launch towers and initially intended to extend it above its former 350-foot (110 m) height. It did not need
13398-467: 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
13552-464: The construction to prepare the facility to launch prototypes of the large 9 m (30 ft)-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. A second phase of the construction was planned for 2020 to build a much more capable launch mount capable of launching the entire Starship launch vehicle, powered by 33 Raptor engines and producing
13706-419: The county seat, and six years later a census reported there were ninety-six residents in the area. The Third Seminole War was not as destructive as the second, but it slowed the settlement of southeast Florida. At the end of the war, a few of the soldiers stayed. American settlers began to establish cotton plantations in north Florida, which required numerous laborers, which they supplied by buying slaves in
13860-401: 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. State of Florida Florida ( / ˈ f l ɒr ɪ d ə / FLORR -ih-də , Spanish: [floˈɾiða] )
14014-454: 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 8,700 feet (2,700 m) 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
14168-414: 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. 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
14322-672: The defense of the Captaincy General of Cuba and the Spanish West Indies . In 1738, the governor of Florida Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St. Augustine, a fortified town for escaped slaves to whom Montiano granted citizenship and freedom in return for their service in the Florida militia, and which became the first free black settlement legally sanctioned in North America. In 1763 , Spain traded Florida to
14476-409: The design of the launch complex, as it had to encompass two very different possibilities and rockets. Accordingly, early designs from 1961 show two sets of launch pads. The first was a series of three pads for Saturn along Playalinda Beach , with the southernmost near the current Eddy Creek Boat Launch, and the northernmost around Klondike Beach. Far to the south was a similar set of three pads for Nova,
14630-603: The domestic market. By 1860, Florida had only 140,424 people, of whom 44% were enslaved. There were fewer than 1,000 free African Americans before the American Civil War. On January 10, 1861, nearly all delegates in the Florida Legislature approved an ordinance of secession, declaring Florida to be "a sovereign and independent nation"—an apparent reassertion to the preamble in Florida's Constitution of 1838, in which Florida agreed with Congress to be
14784-678: The early 19th century. People came from the Bahamas to South Florida and the Keys to hunt for treasure from the ships that ran aground on the treacherous Great Florida Reef . Some accepted Spanish land offers along the Miami River. At about the same time, the Seminole Indians arrived, along with a group of runaway slaves. The area was affected by the Second Seminole War , during which Major William S. Harney led several raids against
14938-477: The establishment of English settlements to the north and French claims to the west. English colonists and buccaneers launched several attacks on St. Augustine in the 17th and 18th centuries, razing the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Spain built the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672 and Fort Matanzas in 1742 to defend Florida's capital city from attacks, and to maintain its strategic position in
15092-548: 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. Launch Complex 39A was used for the uncrewed launch of the Skylab space station on May 14, 1973. This used 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. With
15246-512: The existing structures that support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. In December 2021, SpaceX started construction of a Starship orbital launch pad on the site. On June 16, 2022, the first tower segment for the Starship orbital pad arrived at LC-39A. Stacking began on June 21, and the Starship launch mount was also under construction. In 2024, an additional Environmental Impact Statement was underway to support an annual launch cadence of 40+ Starship launches. The first SpaceX launch from pad 39A
15400-615: 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
15554-416: The external tank. 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 290-foot (88 m) tower near each pad stored 300,000 U.S. gallons (1,100,000 liters) of water, which was released onto the mobile launcher platform just before engine ignition. The water muffled
15708-463: 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
15862-498: 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
16016-428: The federal government inventory. The Constellation program planned to use LC-39A for uncrewed Ares V launches and LC-39B for crewed Ares I launches. In preparation for this, NASA began modifying LC-39B to support Ares I launches with 39A planned to be modified in the mid 2010s for Ares V launches. Prior to Ares I-X, the last Shuttle launch from pad 39B was the nighttime launch of STS-116 on December 9, 2006. To support
16170-517: The federal government used the facility to process, document and provide medical and dental services for the newcomers. As a result, the Freedom Tower was also called the "Ellis Island of the South". In recent decades, more migrants have come for the jobs in a developing economy. With a population of more than 18 million, according to the 2010 census, Florida is the most populous state in
16324-721: The final Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope STS-125 launched from pad 39A in May 2009, Endeavour was placed on 39B if needed to launch the STS-400 rescue mission. After the completion of STS-125 , 39B was converted to launch the single test flight of the Constellation Program Ares ;I-X on October 28, 2009. Pad 39B was then planned to have the FSS and RSS removed in preparation for Ares I. However, in 2010,
16478-438: 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
16632-404: The first launch at pad 39A—of a Falcon Heavy—as early as 2015, as they had had architects and engineers working on the new design and modifications since 2013. 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
16786-481: The first launch at pad 39A—of a Falcon Heavy—as early as 2015, as they had architects and engineers working on the new design and modifications since 2013. 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 delayed launching the Falcon Heavy in order to focus on the Falcon 9's failure investigation and its return to flight. In early 2016, considering
16940-463: 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. 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
17094-578: The former crawlerway path. Also in 2015, the launch mount for the Falcon Heavy was constructed on Pad 39A over the existing infrastructure. 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", but still had more work yet to do to support crewed flights. SpaceX originally planned to be ready to accomplish
17248-515: The former crawlerway path. Also in 2015, the launch mount for the Falcon Heavy was constructed on Pad 39A over the existing infrastructure. 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", but still had more work yet to do to support crewed flights. SpaceX originally planned to be ready to accomplish
17402-511: The garrison at Baton Rouge (now in Louisiana ) and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the " Bonnie Blue Flag ". In 1810, parts of West Florida were annexed by the proclamation of President James Madison , who claimed the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase . These parts were incorporated into the newly formed Territory of Orleans . The U.S. annexed
17556-567: 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
17710-404: 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. 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
17864-423: The interior of the state. Florida's economy has been based primarily upon agricultural products such as citrus fruits, strawberries, nuts, sugarcane and cattle. The boll weevil devastated cotton crops during the early 20th century. Until the mid-20th century, Florida was the least-populous state in the southern United States . In 1900, its population was only 528,542, of whom nearly 44% were African American,
18018-500: The lake (including the Florida Keys ) have a true tropical climate (Köppen: Aw , Am , and Af ). Mean high temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90s Fahrenheit (32–34 °C). Mean low temperatures for early to mid-January range from the low 40s Fahrenheit (4–7 °C) in north Florida to above 60 °F (16 °C) from Miami on southward. With an average daily temperature of 70.7 °F (21.5 °C), it
18172-589: 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. This complicated
18326-417: The most prominent American writers, including Ernest Hemingway , Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings , and Tennessee Williams , and continues to attract celebrities and athletes, especially in golf , tennis , auto racing , and water sports . Florida has been considered a battleground state in American presidential elections , particularly those in 2000 and 2016 . Florida's climate varies from subtropical in
18480-485: The newly acquired territory for a brief period. On March 30, 1822, the U.S. Congress merged East Florida and part of West Florida into the Florida Territory . By the early 1800s, Indian removal was a significant issue throughout the southeastern U.S. and also in Florida. In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and as settlement increased, pressure grew on the U.S. government to remove
18634-473: The north to tropical in the south. It is the only state besides Hawaii to have a tropical climate , and the only continental state with both a tropical climate, located at the southern portion of the state, and a coral reef . Florida has several unique ecosystems, including Everglades National Park , the largest tropical wilderness in the U.S. and among the largest in the Americas . Unique wildlife include
18788-511: The now defunct Constellation program , and is currently prepared for the Artemis program , which was first launched in November 2022. A pad to be designated 39C, which would have been a copy of pads 39A and 39B, was originally planned for Apollo but never built. A smaller pad, also designated 39C, was constructed from January to June 2015, to accommodate small-lift launch vehicles . NASA launches from pads 39A and 39B have been supervised from
18942-471: The original layout. No diagram of the access to E can be found. Had all of them been built, C, D and E would have formed a triangle. 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 363-foot (111 m)-tall space vehicle on one of three Mobile Launchers (ML). Each Mobile Launcher consisted of
19096-492: The other and how they would manage the facility". On December 13, 2013, NASA announced that it had selected SpaceX as the new commercial tenant. On April 14, 2014, SpaceX signed a lease agreement that gave it a 20-year exclusive lease on LC-39A. SpaceX planned to launch their launch vehicles from the pad and build a new hangar nearby. 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
19250-873: The pad before erecting the vehicle to vertical for the launch. For military missions from Pad 39A, payloads are vertically integrated, as that is required per a launch contract with the United States Air Force . For Apollo program launches from LC-39A see the list of uncrewed and crewed Apollo missions. For the uncrewed launch of the Skylab space station from LC-39A, see Skylab § Completion and launch . For Space Shuttle program launches from LC-39A see List of space shuttle launches . For SpaceX launches from LC-39A see List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches . 28°36′30.2″N 80°36′15.6″W / 28.608389°N 80.604333°W / 28.608389; -80.604333 Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 Launch Complex 39 ( LC-39 )
19404-623: The pad since the launch of the SpaceX CRS-10 Dragon resupply mission in 2017, and crewed missions since the launch of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission in 2020. 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. SpaceX assembles its launch vehicles horizontally in a hangar near the pad and transports them horizontally to
19558-457: 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
19712-462: The pads stored the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (LOX) for the second and third stages of the Saturn V. The highly explosive nature of these chemicals required numerous safety measures at the launch complex. The pads were located 8,730 feet (2,660 m) away from each other. Before tanking operations began and during launch, non-essential personnel were excluded from the danger area. Each pad had
19866-534: The panhandle, by Alabama. It is the only state that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Florida also is the southernmost of the 48 contiguous states, Hawaii being the only one of the fifty states reaching farther south. Florida is west of the Bahamas and 90 miles (140 km) north of Cuba . Florida is one of the largest states east of the Mississippi River , and only Alaska and Michigan are larger in water area. The water boundary
20020-781: The pre-automobile era, railroads played a key role in the state's development, particularly in coastal areas. In 1883, the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad connected Pensacola and the rest of the Panhandle to the rest of the state. In 1884 the South Florida Railroad (later absorbed by Atlantic Coast Line Railroad ) opened full service to Tampa . In 1894 the Florida East Coast Railway reached West Palm Beach ; in 1896 it reached Biscayne Bay near Miami . Numerous other railroads were built all over
20174-405: The region La Florida (land of flowers) ( [la floˈɾiða] ). Florida subsequently became the first area in the continental U.S. to be permanently settled by Europeans, with the settlement of St. Augustine , founded in 1565, being the oldest continuously inhabited city. Florida was frequently attacked and coveted by Great Britain before Spain ceded it to the U.S. in 1819 in exchange for resolving
20328-415: The remaining two pads, now known as D and E. Pad D would have been built due west of Pad C, some distance inland along Patrol Road. Access to D would have branched off westward from the crawlerway at the point where C's crawlerway turned north. Pad E would have continued the line of pads along the coast, north of C near Playalinda Beach , close to the original location of the southernmost pad in
20482-421: The rocket. The system included seven baskets suspended from seven slidewires that extended from the fixed service structure to a landing zone 370 meters (1,200 ft) to the west. Each basket could hold up to three people, which slid down the wire reaching up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph), eventually reaching a gentle stop by means of a braking system catch net and drag chain which slowed and then halted
20636-779: The same proportion as before the Civil War. Forty thousand blacks, roughly one-fifth of their 1900 population levels in Florida, left the state in the Great Migration . They left due to lynchings and racial violence and for better opportunities in the North and the West. Disfranchisement for most African Americans in the state persisted until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s gained federal legislation in 1965 to enforce protection of their constitutional suffrage. In response to racial segregation in Florida,
20790-569: The settlers lost their tenuous support from the federal government and abandoned their cause by 1813. Traditionally, historians argued that Seminoles based in East Florida began raiding Georgia settlements and offering havens for runaway slaves. The United States Army led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by Andrew Jackson that became known as
20944-644: 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 eight miles (13 km) 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
21098-514: 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
21252-617: The southeastern United States and the third-most populous in the United States. The population of Florida has boomed in recent years with the state being the recipient of the largest number of out-of-state movers in the country as of 2019. Florida's growth has been widespread, as cities throughout the state have continued to see population growth. In 2012, the killing of Trayvon Martin , a young black man, by George Zimmerman in Sanford drew national attention to Florida's stand-your-ground laws , and sparked African American activism, including
21406-483: The southernmost just south of the Astronaut Beach House and the northern roughly at the location of the current Pad A. 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,
21560-467: 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
21714-593: 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. When the stack integration was completed, the Mobile Launcher
21868-506: The state is at or near sea level. Some places, such as Clearwater have promontories that rise 50 to 100 ft (15 to 30 m) above the water. Much of Central and North Florida, typically 25 mi (40 km) or more away from the coastline, have rolling hills with elevations ranging from 100 to 250 ft (30 to 76 m). The highest point in peninsular Florida (east and south of the Suwannee River ), Sugarloaf Mountain ,
22022-506: 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. 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. Prior to
22176-713: 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. The thrust to allow
22330-674: 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 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
22484-542: Was added for a variety of rocket liquids and gases. 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
22638-464: Was also a group of settlers who came from the colony of Bermuda . This was the first permanent English-speaking population in what is now Duval County , Baker County , St. Johns County and Nassau County . The British constructed good public roads and introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, indigo and fruits, as well as the export of lumber. The British governors were directed to call general assemblies as soon as possible in order to make laws for
22792-638: Was described as "still very largely an empty State." Subsequently, the growing availability of air conditioning , the climate, and a low cost of living made the state a haven. Migration from the Rust Belt and the Northeast sharply increased Florida's population after 1945. In the 1960s, many refugees from Cuba , fleeing Fidel Castro 's communist regime, arrived in Miami at the Freedom Tower , where
22946-426: Was destroyed by the Spanish. Today a reconstructed version of the fort stands in its location within Jacksonville. In 1565, the settlement of St. Augustine (San Agustín) was established under the leadership of admiral and governor Pedro Menéndez de Avilés , creating what would become the oldest, continuously occupied European settlements in the continental U.S. and establishing the first generation of Floridanos and
23100-486: 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
23254-462: Was moved atop one of two crawler-transporters , or Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, 3–4 miles (4.8–6.4 km) to its pad at a speed of 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h). Each crawler weighed 6,000,000 pounds (2,720 t) 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. After
23408-414: Was particularly important after 1864, when the Confederacy lost control of the Mississippi River, thereby losing access to Texas beef. The largest engagements in the state were the Battle of Olustee , on February 20, 1864, and the Battle of Natural Bridge , on March 6, 1865. Both were Confederate victories. The war ended in 1865. Following the American Civil War, Florida's congressional representation
23562-425: Was restored on June 25, 1868, albeit forcefully after Reconstruction and the installation of unelected government officials under the final authority of federal military commanders. After the Reconstruction period ended in 1876, white Democrats regained power in the state legislature. In 1885, they created a new constitution, followed by statutes through 1889 that disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites. In
23716-431: Was searching for the Fountain of Youth is mythical and appeared only long after his death. In May 1539, Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described a thick wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet (21 m), with intertwined and elevated roots making landing difficult. Europeans introduced Christianity , cattle, horses, sheep,
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