Space Launch Complex 41

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CCAFS SLC-41
The Atlas V with New Horizons about to take off
The Atlas V with New Horizons about to take off
Coordinates 28 ° 35 ′ 0 ″  N , 80 ° 34 ′ 59 ″  W Coordinates: 28 ° 35 ′ 0 ″  N , 80 ° 34 ′ 59 ″  W
Type Orbital Launch Site
operator Space Florida , ULA
start of building 1963
Launch pads 1
Missiles earlier various Titan III / IV ; now Atlas V ; Vulcan (planned)
CCAFSLC-39 Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 SLC-41 Space Launch Complex 41 SLC-40 Space Launch Complex 40 LC-47 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 47 SLC-37 Space Launch Complex 37 LC-34 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 34 LC-20 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 20 LC-19 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 19 LC-16 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 16 LC-15 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 15 LC-14 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 14 LC-13 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 13 LC-12 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 12 LC-11 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 11 LC-36 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 36 LC-46 Space Launch Complex 46 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 21 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 22 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 9 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 10 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 31 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 32 LC-18 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 18 LC-22 LC-17 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 17 LC-26 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 26 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 5 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 6 LC-29 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 29 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 25 LC-30 Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 30
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The Space Launch Complex 41 ( SLC-41 ; formerly Launch Complex 41 , LC-41) is a rocket launch site operated by Space Florida on the premises of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Merritt Island , Cape Canaveral in Florida , USA .

From here the US Air Force launched Titan-III C , Titan-IV rockets and NASA's seven Titan-III E / Centaur rockets . Today, after a major renovation, the launch pad is the only launch site for the Atlas V in Cape Canaveral, and in the future for its successor, the Vulcan .

history

Titan III E / Centaur with Viking 2 on the launch pad
An Atlas V on the launch pad with the new service tower under construction (December 2015)

Originally, LC-41 was built together with Complex 40 as a launch pad for the Titan IIIC. After construction in 1963, the US Air Force's OV2 satellite was launched on December 21, 1965. Although the launch was successful, the high school failed and put the satellite in a wrong orbit.

A few more military Titan III-C launches followed in the next few years, as the LC 41 was modified for the launch of the Titan III-E / Centaur rockets by NASA and systems for the cryogenic propellants (liquid hydrogen and oxygen ) of the Centaur upper stage were installed .

The first launch of a Titan IIIE / Centaur failed because the Centaur did not ignite in flight; the other six starts of this type were successful.

The first successful launch of a Titan-IIIE / Centaur from launch position 41 brought the Helios 1 solar probe into space on December 10, 1974 .

This was followed by the successful Viking Landers of NASA with Titan IIIE / Centaur rockets , which took off on August 20 and September 9, 1975 and landed on Mars a year later .

On January 15, 1976, Helios 2 took off from Complex 41, which approached the Sun up to 43.5 million kilometers, closer than any other spacecraft before, until today (2009).

In 1977 Voyager 1 and 2 began their journey to the outer planets here. These started on August 20 and September 5, 1977 on board a Titan IIIE Centaur.

After 17 Titan III flights, no more flights were undertaken for the next few years. Between 1986 and 1988, the ramp for the Titan IV was rebuilt as part of a $ 57 million project. With the take-off of the new Titan on June 14, 1989, the decade of this new Titan began, whereby the last two launches of this missile type failed.

From 1999 the ramp changed its face for the second time. The ramp, which is no longer required, has been completely rebuilt so that a new starting point has been created for the new Atlas V. The first Atlas V from LC 41 took off on August 21, 2002. Among the other Atlas V flights was New Horizons in 2006 - the first probe to investigate Pluto . New Horizons was accelerated to a speed of 16.21 km / s by its Atlas V (551), faster than any space probe before.

Conversions for manned flights

In September 2015, renovation work began again in order to be able to start manned missions with the Boeing CST-100 Starliner from here in the future.

For this purpose, a fixed service tower will again be built on the ramp, from which the astronauts can climb the space capsule.

The complex

Viking 2 launch from Complex 41

The launch pad was until the conversion of the Atlas V practically a copy of the Launch Complex 40 . Most of the rockets were assembled in the Vertical Integration Building (VIB), driven to the launch pad and prepared for launch with the help of a huge service tower.

Complex 41 after the conversion for the Atlas V.

Much changed during the conversion for the Atlas V: the launch system was blown up. Only the foundation, the exhaust shafts and the four lightning rods arranged around the launch pad were retained. While almost every launch ramp is visible from afar through a huge grid structure, today you only find the concrete table and other flat equipment on SLC-41, apart from the lightning rod system. The Atlas V missiles will therefore be built in the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF; not to be confused with the old Vertical Integration Building) 550 m away . The prepared rocket parts come from the Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC). This building is about 6.5 kilometers from the complex and was previously used for the Titan IV missiles. Once the rocket is fully assembled in the VIF, it can be driven to the launch pad with a small, mobile tower. However, this only happens a few hours before the start. On the SLC-41 itself, the rocket is then only refueled.

Start list

As of December 31, 2019

date Time ( UTC ) Missile type serial number Mission / payload
December 21, 1965 Titan III 3C-8 Transtage 8 / LES 3 / LES 4 / Oscar 4
June 16, 1966 14:00 Titan III 3C-11 GGTS 1 / IDCSP
August 26, 1966 13:59 Titan III 3C-12 IDCSP
January 18, 1967 14:19 Titan III 3C-13 IDCSP
April 28, 1967 10:01 Titan III 3C-10 Vela 7 / Vela 8 / ERS 18 / ERS 20 / ERS 27
July 1, 1967 13:15 Titan III 3C-14 IDCSP / LES 5
June 13, 1968 14:03 Titan III 3C-16 IDCSP
26th September 1968 07:37 Titan III 3C-5 LES 6 / ERS 21 / ERS 28
February 9, 1969 21:09 Titan III 3C-17 TacSat 1
May 23, 1969 07:57 Titan III 3C-15 Vela 9 / Vela 10 / ERS 26 / ERS 29
February 11, 1974 13:48 Titan III 23E-1 Centaur D-1T sphinx
December 10, 1974 07:11 Titan III 23E-2 Centaur D-1T Helios 1
20th August 1975 21:22 Titan III 23E-4 Centaur D-1T Viking 1
September 9, 1975 18:39 Titan III 23E-3 Centaur D-1T Viking 2
15th January 1976 05:34 Titan III 23E-5 Centaur D-1T Helios 2
20th August 1977 14:29 Titan III 23E-7 Centaur D-1T Voyager 2
5th September 1977 12:56 Titan III 23E-6 Centaur D-1T Voyager 1
June 14, 1989 13:18 Titan IV 402A K-1 IUS DSP-1 block 14 F14
June 8, 1990 04:22 Titan IV 405A K-4 NOSS
November 13, 1990 00:37 Titan IV 402A K-6 IUS DSP-1 block 14 F15
May 4, 1994 15:55 Titan IV 401A K-7 Centaur TC-10 Trumpet 1
August 27, 1994 08:58 Titan IV 401A K-9 Centaur TC-11 Mercury ELINT 1
July 10, 1995 12:38 Titan IV 401A K-19 Centaur TC-8 Trumpet 2
April 24, 1996 23:37 Titan IV 401A K-16 Cenraur TC-15 Mercury ELINT 2
November 8, 1997 02:05 Titan IV 401A Centaur TC-16 Trumpet 3
August 12, 1998 11:30 Titan IV 401A K-17 Centaur TC-9 Mercury ELINT 3
April 9, 1999 17:01 Titan IV 402B K-32 IUS DSP-1 block 18 F19
August 21, 2002 22:05 Atlas V 401 AV-001 Hot Bird 6
May 13, 2003 Atlas V 401 AV-002 Hellas Sat 2
July 17, 2003 23:45 Atlas V 521 AV-003 Rainbow 1
December 17, 2004 12:07 Atlas V 521 AV-005 AMC-16
March 11, 2005 21:42 Atlas V 431 AV-004 Inmarsat 4-F1
August 12, 2005 11:43 Atlas V 401 AV-007 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
January 19, 2006 19:00 Atlas V 551 AV-010 New Horizons
April 20, 2006 20:27 Atlas V 411 AV-008 Astra 1KR
March 9, 2007 03:10 Atlas V 401 AV-013 STPSat-1 / Midstar 1
June 15, 2007 15:11 Atlas V 401 AV-009 USA 194, NROL-30
October 11, 2007 00:22 Atlas V 421 AV-011 WGS SV-1
December 10, 2007 22:05 Atlas V 401 AV-015 NROL-24
April 14, 2008 20:12 Atlas V 421 AV-014 ICO G1
April 4, 2009 08:34 Atlas V 421 AV-016 WGS 2
June 18, 2009 21:32 Atlas V 401 AV-020 LCROSS
September 8, 2009 21:35 Atlas V 401 AV-018 PAN
November 23, 2009 06:55 Atlas V 431 AV-024 Intelsat 14
February 11, 2010 15:23 Atlas V 401 AV-021 Solar Dynamics Observatory
April 22, 2010 23:52 Atlas V 501 AV-012 X-37B
August 14, 2010 11:07 Atlas V 531 AV-019 AEHF 1
March 5, 2011 22:46 Atlas V 501 AV-026 X-37B
May 7, 2011 18:10 Atlas V 401 AV-022 SBIRS-GEO-1
August 5, 2011 16:25 Atlas V 551 AV-029 Juno
November 26, 2011 15:02 Atlas V 541 AV-028 Mars Science Laboratory
February 24, 2012 22:15 Atlas V 551 AV-030 MUOS-1
May 4, 2012 18:42 Atlas V 531 AV-031 AEHF 2
June 20, 2012 12:28 Atlas V 401 AV-023 NROL-38
August 30, 2012 08:05 Atlas V 401 AV-032 Radiation Belt Storm Probes
December 11, 2012 18:03 Atlas V 501 AV-034 X-37B
January 31, 2013 01:48 Atlas V 401 AV-036 TDRS-K
March 19, 2013 21:21 Atlas V 401 AV-037 SBIRS-GEO-2
May 15, 2013 21:38 Atlas V 401 AV-039 GPS IIF-4
19th July 2013 13:00 Atlas V 551 AV-040 MUOS-2
18th September 2013 08:10 Atlas V 531 AV-041 AEHF-3
18th November 2013 18:28 Atlas V 401 AV-038 MAVEN
January 24, 2014 02:33 Atlas V 401 AV-042 TDRS-L
April 10, 2014 17:45 Atlas V 541 AV-045 NROL-67
May 22, 2014 13:09 Atlas V 401 AV-046 NROL-33
2nd August 2014 03:23 Atlas V 401 AV-048 GPS IIF-7
17th September 2014 00:10 Atlas V 401 AV-049 CLIO
October 29, 2014 17:21 Atlas V 401 AV-050 GPS -2F 8
January 21, 2015 01:04 Atlas V 551 AV-052 MUOS-3
March 13, 2015 02:44 Atlas V 421 AV-053 Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
May 20, 2015 15:05 Atlas V 501 AV-054 AFSPC-5: X-37 OTV-4 , ULTRASat : LightSail A , GEARRSAT 2 , OptiCube 1 , OptiCube 2 , OptiCube 3 , USS Langley , AeroCube 8A , AeroCube 8B , BRICSat-P , PSat A
15th July 2015 15:36 Atlas V 401 AV-055 GPS -2F 10
2nd September 2015 10:18 Atlas V 551 AV-056 MUOS-4
October 2nd, 2015 10:28 Atlas V 421 AV-059 Morelos 3
October 31, 2015 16:13 Atlas V 401 AV-060 GPS -2F 11
5th December 2015 21:44 Atlas V 401 AV-061 Cygnus OA-4
5th February 2016 13:38 Atlas V 401 AV-057 GPS -2F 12
March 23, 2016 03:05 Atlas V 401 AV-064 Cygnus OA-6
June 24, 2016 14:30 Atlas V 551 AV-063 MUOS-5
July 28, 2016 12:37 Atlas V 421 AV-065 NROL-61
September 8, 2016 23:05 Atlas V 411 AV-067 OSIRIS-REx
December 18, 2016 19:13 Atlas V 431 AV-071 EchoStar 19
January 21, 2017 00:42 Atlas V 401 AV-066 SBIRS-GEO 3
1st March 2017 17:49 Atlas V 401 AV-068 NROL-79
April 18, 2017 15:11 Atlas V 401 AV-070 Cygnus OA-7
18th August 2017 12:29 Atlas V 401 AV-074 TDRS-M
15th October 2017 07:28 Atlas V 421 AV-075 NROL-52
20th January 2018 00:48 Atlas V 411 AV-076 SBIRS-GEO 4
1st March 2018 22:02 Atlas V 541 AV-077 GOES-S
April 14, 2018 23:13 Atlas V 551 AV-079 AFSPC-11
17th October 2018 04:15 Atlas V 551 AV-073 AEHF-4
August 8, 2019 10:13 Atlas V 551 AV-083 AEHF-5
20th December 2019 11:36 Atlas V N22 AV-080 Boe-OFT

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cape Canaveral Spaceport Master Plan. (PDF) Spaceport Florida, January 2017, accessed on March 18, 2019 .
  2. ↑ ULA selects launch pads for new Vulcan rocket. In: Spaceflight Now. October 12, 2015, accessed August 14, 2019 .
  3. ^ Crew tower rising at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41 . In: FloridaToday , September 21, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2016. 
  4. ↑ a b Canaveral and KSC pads: New designs for space access . In: NASASpaceFlight.com , October 8, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2016.  
  5. ↑ Gunter Krebs: ntruder 5, ..., 12 (NOSS-3 1, ..., 8) - Gunter's Space Page. space.skyrocket, June 2, 2017, accessed July 13, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 41  - Collection of images, videos and audio files