Space

Launch Complex 39 / LC-39

KSC maintains its own launch complex, LC-39. LC-39's pads A and B were originally built to support the Apollo program. After the end of the lunar landing program in 1972, they served to launch Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and now the Space Shuttle. LC-39 launch and processing facilities are all located on Merritt Island, between the Florida mainland and Cape Canaveral. LC-39 support facilities include the Vehicle Assembly Building, the Launch Control Center, the Mobile Launcher Platform, the Crawler Transporter, the Orbiter Processing Facilities, the Payload Processing Facility, and the Shuttle Landing Facility.

KSC's Launch Complex 39 is located next to a barge site. The crawlerway, leading to pads 39B and 39A , extends from the massive VAB. The VAB, which covers eight acres and stands 525 feet tall, is used for assembly, stacking and mating of Space Shuttle elements. Originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations, the VAB is one of the largest buildings in the world. The LCC, a white building near the VAB, is where launch, mission support, and loading are controlled.

Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 (LC-39), has two identical launch pads which, like many Space Shuttle facilities, were originally designed and built for the Apollo lunar landing program. The pads, built in the 1960s, were used for all of the Apollo/Saturn V missions and the Skylab space station program.

Between 1967 and 1975, 12 Saturn V/Apollo vehicles, one Saturn V/Skylab workshop, three Saturn 1B/Apollo vehicles for Skylab crews, and one Saturn 1B/Apollo for the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo Soyuz Test Project, were launched from these pads.

Each of the dual launch pads, designated Pads A and B, covers an area of about one-quarter of a square mile. Located not far from the Atlantic Ocean, Pad A is 48 ft. above sea level, while Pad B is 55 ft. above sea level. They are octagonal in shape.

To accommodate the Space Shuttle vehicle, major modifications to the pads were necessary. Initially, Pad A modifications were completed in mid-1978, while Pad B was finished in 1985 and first used for the ill-fated STS 51-L mission in January 1986.

Major pad modifications included construction of new hypergolic fuel and oxidizer support areas at the southwest and southeast corners of the pads; construction of new Fixed Service Structures (FSS); addition of a Rotating Service Structure (RSS); addition of 300,000-gallon water towers and associated plumbing; and, finally, replacement of the original flame deflectors with Shuttle-compatible deflectors.

Following the flight schedule delays resulting from the STS 51-L accident, an additional 105 pad modifications were made. Among them were installation of a sophisticated laser parking system on the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) to facilitate mounting the Shuttle on the pad, and emergency escape system modifications to provide emergency egress for up to 21 people. The emergency shelter bunker also was modified to allow easier access from the slidewire baskets.

There is approximately 1.25 million feet of tubing and piping at Launch Complex 39, varying in sizes from .25 inches to 114 inches in diameter. This is enough pipe to reach from Orlando to Miami.