Definition
The most historic launch pad in the United States (located at Kennedy Space Center, Florida), leased by SpaceX from NASA in 2014 to support Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Crew Dragon missions.
Why It Matters
Historic foundations can support the future. By transforming the pad that sent men to the Moon into the hub for reusable rockets, SpaceX proved that legacy infrastructure could be revitalized for a new era of exploration.
Core Concepts
- History: The site of the Apollo 11 Moon launch (1969) and the first and last Space Shuttle flights.
- The Lease Battle: SpaceX won a 20-year lease in 2013, defeating a bid from Jeff Bezos/Blue Origin. Musk famously mocked the bid, saying BO was more likely to “discover unicorns dancing in the flame duct” than launch an orbital rocket in five years.
- Transformation: SpaceX demolished the Shuttle-era Rotating Service Structure (RSS) and built a new horizontal processing hangar at the base of the pad.
- Falcon Heavy Hub: The only pad currently capable of launching the three-core Falcon Heavy rocket.
- Human Spaceflight: Retrofitted with a sleek, modern crew access arm for the Return to Flight of American astronauts on Crew Dragon.