Cape Canaveral Updates

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The Pad 39A Ship Quick Disconnect Arm (SQD) just rolled out at Kennedy Space Center

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Photo by Julia Bergeron of nasaspaceflight.com showing the Roberts Road Gigabay under construction at Kennedy Space Center. It's harder to get close to this one like people can at Starbase, due to the stricter federal security arrangements at Cape Canaveral. This photo is from one of the public viewing areas a long distance away.

This GB and the one at Starbase are twins in a lot of ways, with 24 work stations each tall enough to be able to work on a completely stacked ship or booster. Lots of specialized equipment in each work station for particular tasks like robot welding or tile application. There will be bridge cranes running on rails near the ceiling to move giant vehicles around from station to station. The idea is series production of spaceships like Tesla churns out cars. Elon wants to build thousands of them.

Someday they will be flying back and forth to the Moon and Mars like airliners!

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Aerial photo taken just a few days ago showing the current state of the Cape Canaveral Pad 39A Starship launch mount:

It's basically identical to the one at Pad 2 at Starbase, but with some subtle differences that caught the engineers' eyes. For one thing, it's about 1.5 meters lower. And the water, CH4 and LOX lines leading to it aren't as cramped.

(Photo taken from a Cessna by discussion board participant 'EventDudes' and published by RGV Aerial Photography. Don't worry, they stayed above the Flight Restrictions and used a very powerful telephoto lens.)

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Comparison view. Pad 39A at the left, the more complete Pad 2 at Starbase on the right.

(Comparison view by RGV Aerial Photography)

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NASA's Artemis II SLS on its Pad awaiting its launch as soon as February 6:

(Photo by EventDudes)

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Current state of the Cape Canaveral Starship Gigabay at Roberts Road, designed for mass production of Starships

(Photo by Ryan Bale)

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The Cape Canaveral SpaceX Gigabay continues to grow:

(Aerial photo by Greg Scott)

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The new Starship pad under construction at Cape Canaveral's historic Pad 39A

(Photo by Greg Scott)

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A new building under construction at Blue Origin's Cape Canaveral campus

(Photo by Greg Scott)

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Map by Chandler G showing the various launch pads at Kennedy Space Center and at adjoining Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, along with who is using them. (The pads remain property of the US government, the private companies lease them.) Green pads are in use. Red pads are abandoned at the moment. Purple pads are still under construction. Blue/Green are proposed pads.

From the top, starting in Kennedy Space Center:

Launch Complex 39B, historically a Saturn pad, now the Artemis SLS pad. Operated by NASA Exploration Ground Systems.

Launch Comples 39A, where the Moon landings took off and then the Space Shuttle pad. Historic holy ground to NASA. Currently launching Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. A new Starship pad is nearing completion. 39A is now operated by SpaceX.

LC 48 is defunct. It will probably stay that way because it's considered dangerously close to the 39A Starship pad.

Launch Complex 41 is operated by ULA and is where they launch their Atlas and Vulcan rockets.

Then we cross into CCSFS...

Launch complex 40 is now the main Cape Canaveral Falcon 9 pad. It has its own crew access arm to support crewed Dragon launches. SLC 40 is operated by Space X.

Launch complex 37 is a huge SpaceX construction site where two Starship launch pads are at early stages of construction. When complete, they will bring the total to three Starship launch pads at Cape Canaveral.

Then the old 1960's era launch pads (Cold War ICBM test pads mostly) are closer together which makes them more appropriate for smaller rockets.

LC 34 is defunct.

Launch complex 20 is operated by Firefly.

LC 19 is defunct.

Relativity is constructing a pad at LC 16.

LC15 is defunct.

LC 14 is under construction by Stoke Space. This company is a favorite with the engineers because of their innovative engine and heat shield designs. Stoke is one to keep an eye on.

Then next door LC 13 is occupied by Phantom space.

LC 12 is defunct.

Then Blue Origin's big Launch Complex 36 with one (formerly) operational New Glenn pad and a second NG pad in early stages of construction. This is where Blue's recent unfortunate explosion occurred, but they seem to be bouncing back from it quicker than expected.

To the south of that, right at the tip of Cape Canaveral, is launch complex 46 which is operated by the Space Force for military purposes. That includes things like tests of exotic hypersonic weapons. This pad is overworked given the number of launches from there, and after the recent New Glenn explosion it's considered too close to LC 36 which will require LC 46 to be evacuated whenever New Glenn launches. As New Glenn cadence ramps up, that will become a major problem.

South of that is the CCSFS aircraft runway and then a whole collection of defunct pads.

Among them is Launch complex 51, which the Space Force is proposing for a new military pad to take the pressure off of LC 46.

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Photo by Max Evans of Nasaspaceflight.com showing the SpaceX Cape Canaveral Gigabay in the foreground, and NASA's iconic Vertical Assembly Building in the background.

The NASA VAB is where the Saturn Moon Rockets and the Space Shuttles were stacked. It's bigger than the SpaceX Gigabay (where Starship ships and boosters will be stacked) but not bigger by a whole lot.

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Tower stacking is underway at SpaceX's first Starship pad at SLC 37 (Pad 37A) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be the second of a planned three Starship pads at Cape Canaveral. They are about half way, at four segments:

The Starship pad at historic pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is near complete. The flame trench, launch mount and tower are complete but final plumbing and integration are still underway.

(Photos by Julia Bergeron of Nasaspaceflight.com)

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Meanwhile, Blue Origin has begun disassembling their damaged New Glenn tower at SLC 36 by cutting it into segments which will be lowered, repaired and then restacked.

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