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===Space Shuttle=== |
===Space Shuttle=== |
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With the advent of the [[Space Shuttle program]] in the early 1980s, |
With 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]]. Pad 39A hosted all Space Shuttle launches until January 1986, when {{OV|99}} would become the first to launch from pad 39B during the ill-fated [[STS-51-L]] mission, which would end with [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|the destruction of ''Challenger'' and the death of the mission's crew]] a minute into the flight. The program would restart in October 1988 with the launch of {{OV|103|full=nolink}} from pad 39B during the [[STS-26]] mission, with six subsequent missions launching from pad 39B. It would host 53 Space Shuttle launches until December 2006, when ''Discovery'' launched from the pad for the final time during the [[STS-116]] mission; the program's remaining flights would all launch from pad 39A. |
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===Constellation program=== |
===Constellation program=== |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center | ||||||||||||
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Location | Merritt Island, Florida | ||||||||||||
Coordinates | 28°37′38″N 80°37′15″W / 28.62722°N 80.62083°W / 28.62722; -80.62083 | ||||||||||||
Operator | NASA | ||||||||||||
Orbital inclination range | 28–62° | ||||||||||||
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Launch Complex 39--Pad B | |||||||||||||
Show map of Florida
Show map of the United States | |||||||||||||
Location | John F. Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, Florida | ||||||||||||
Area | 160 acres (65 ha) | ||||||||||||
Built | 1967-1968 | ||||||||||||
MPS | John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS | ||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 99001639[1] | ||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | January 21, 2000 | ||||||||||||
Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) is the second of Launch Complex 39's two launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space CenterinMerritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39A, were first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle, which at the time was the United States' most powerful rocket. Typically used to launch NASA's crewed spaceflight missions since the late 1960s, the pad is currently being reconfigured for use by the agency's Space Launch System rocket, a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle which will be used in the Artemis program and subsequent Moon to Mars campaigns. The pad has also been leased for use by NASA to aerospace company Northrup Grumman, for use as a launch site for their Shuttle-derived OmegA launch vehicle, for National Security Space Launch flights and commercial launches.
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.[2]
Launch Complex 39B was designed to handle launches of the Saturn V rocket, the largest and most powerful launch vehicle, which would propel Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. Launch Complex 39B's inaugural launch in May 1969 was also that of the only Saturn V to launch from the pad; SA-505, used to launch the Apollo 10 mission.
After the Apollo 12 mission in 1972, Pad 39B was used for Saturn IB launches. The Mobile Launchers were then modified for the Saturn IB rocket, 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, since the Saturn IB pads 34 and 37 at Cape Canaveral had been decommissioned.[3][4]
With 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. Pad 39A hosted all Space Shuttle launches until January 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger would become the first to launch from pad 39B during the ill-fated STS-51-L mission, which would end with the destruction of Challenger and the death of the mission's crew a minute into the flight. The program would restart in October 1988 with the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from pad 39B during the STS-26 mission, with six subsequent missions launching from pad 39B. It would host 53 Space Shuttle launches until December 2006, when Discovery launched from the pad for the final time during the STS-116 mission; the program's remaining flights would all launch from pad 39A.
Launch Complex 39B would subsequently be reconfigured for crewed Ares I launches as part of the Constellation program; the Ares I-X mission launched a prototype Ares I from 39B in October 2009, prior to the program's cancellation the following year. Since then, no launches from pad 39B have occurred.
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Sources
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