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Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41

Coordinates: 28°35′00″N 80°34′59″W / 28.58333°N 80.58306°W / 28.58333; -80.58306
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Space Launch Complex 41
An aerial view of SLC-41 prior to the launch of the Boeing Crewed Flight Test
Map
Location28°35′00″N 80°34′59″W / 28.58333°N 80.58306°W / 28.58333; -80.58306
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)
UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Short nameSLC-41
Operator
Total launches113
Launch pad(s)1
Orbital inclination
range
28° - 57°
Launch history
StatusActive
First launch21 December 1965
Titan IIIC (LES-3 & 4)
Last launch4 October 2024
Vulcan (Certification Flight 2)
Associated
rockets
Current: Atlas V, Vulcan
Retired: Titan IIIC, Titan IIIE, Titan IV

Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), sometimes referred to as "Slick Forty-one," is one of two launch sites at the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.[1][2][3] Originally built as Launch Complex 41 (LC-41), it and the neighboring Space Launch Complex 40 were designed for the United States Air Force's Titan III rocket program, where it launched the Titan IIIC in the 1960s and the Titan IIIE in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the Air Force and Martin Marietta upgraded the pad for use by the Titan III's successor, the Titan IV.

During the early 2000s, SLC-41 underwent modifications by Lockheed Martin in order to support the launch operations of the Atlas V. It was later transferred to United Launch Alliance (ULA)—a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing—who continues to use the pad today for launches of the Atlas V and its successor, Vulcan Centaur.

History

[edit]

Titan IIIC and IIIE (1965–1977)

[edit]
LC-41 in September 1977, launching a Titan IIIE with Voyager 1

Launch Complex 41 was originally built as part of the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex (ITL), intended to launch Titan III rockets with solid rocket boosters in a method to enable a rapid launch rate. The ITL consisted of a Titan assembly facility at the Vertical Integration Building (demolished in 2006), an SRB attachment facility at the Solid Motor Assembly Building (now used by SpaceX to process Falcon 9 payloads), and two pads at Launch Complex 40 (LC-40, now SLC-40) and LC-41, all connected by the first rail line at the Cape.[4] The facilities were completed in 1964, and the first launch from LC-41 was of a Titan IIIC carrying four separate payloads on December 21, 1965.[5]

Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, LC-41 was used to launch 10 Titan IIICs, the entirety of them being military payloads such as Vela nuclear detection satellites and Lincoln Experimental Satellites. The last Titan IIIC launch from LC-41 took place in May 1969, with any further launches of the rocket taking place at LC-40.

In the early 1970s, LC-41 underwent a modification to launch the Titan IIIE, which replaced the Transtage upper stage of the IIIC with a Centaur. With the exception of its inaugural flight in February 1974, every launch from the pad in this era contained a NASA payload. Those satellites were the two Helios probes sent to study the Sun (setting a proximity record only broken by the Parker Solar Probe), the two Viking probes sent to orbit and land on Mars, and the two Voyager spacecraft that flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The Titan III facility at Complex 41 was deactivated in late 1977, following September's launch of Voyager 1.[6]

Titan IV (1989–1999)

[edit]

In 1986, the existing mobile service tower and umbilical tower at LC-41 were both stripped down to their main structural components as part of a renovation conducted by Titan manufacturer Martin Marietta. This was done as part of their "tear-out and refurbish" contracts, which modified and prepared the ITL for its new rocket configuration: LC-40 would get converted to use the civilian-based Commercial Titan III, while LC-41 would be used for the military-focused Titan IV.[6] Additionally, Titan IV processing would go through the newly-constructed Solid Motor Assembly Readiness Facility (now used by ULA in the assembly of Vulcan Centaur) prior to launch. The maiden flight of the Titan IV occurred on June 14, 1989, carrying USA-39 for the United States Air Force. Similarly to most other Titan launches, all 10 launches of the Titan IV from LC-41 were classified military payloads, most going into geostationary transfer orbit.

The Titan family of the 1980s and 1990s was marred by its price in the eyes of commercial customers, who instead opted to use cheaper launch vehicles like Delta II and Ariane 4. Following Lockheed's merger with Martin Marietta in 1995, Lockheed Martin eventually decided to begin the process of retiring the Titan program in favor of their cheaper Atlas line. With any remaining Titan IV launches to be made from LC-40, the last Titan launch from LC-41 was on 9 April 1999, when a Titan IVB launched the USA-142 early warning satellite. The IUS upper stage failed to separate, leaving the payload stranded in a useless GTO orbit.[7]

Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur (2002–present)

[edit]
SLC-41 in 2011, carrying an Atlas V with Juno onboard

After the last Titan launch, LC-41 was renovated by Lockheed Martin and the Air Force to support the Atlas V as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, getting rechristened as SLC-41 in the process. The old launch tower and mobile service structure were demolished, while the new Vertical Integration Facility was built for the assembly of the new launch vehicle. Additionally, the rail lines going towards the pad were renovated to support the assembly and transportation of the Atlas V and it's mobile launcher platform for liftoff.[8] SLC-41 was the site of the first-ever Atlas V launch on August 21, 2002, lifting Hot Bird 6, a Eutelsat geostationary communications spacecraft built around a Spacebus 3000B3 bus.[9][10]

Over the years of the Atlas V era, SLC-41 was used to launch various noteworthy payloads for various agencies such as NASA and the Air Force. These include the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005, the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto in January 2006, the Juno mission to Jupiter in August 2011,[11] and two of the Mars rover missions; Mars Science Laboratory in November 2011, and Mars 2020 in July 2020.[12][13] Other notable payloads to be mentioned are various launches of the Boeing X-37B for the Air Force throughout the 2010s, and a couple of Cyngus flights to the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016 following the failure of Cygnus Orb 3.

SLC-41 in 2024, launching the maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur

In 2005, it was announced that a joint venture would form between Lockheed Martin and Boeing that would combine Atlas V operations at SLC-41 with Delta II and Delta IV operations at SLC-17 and SLC-37 respectively, following issues with profit abounding with competition between the two. This transfer in operation was made official in December 2006, with the formation of United Launch Alliance. The first launch from SLC-41 under ULA came in March 2007 with a variety of Department of Defense payloads lifting off from an Atlas V.

In 2011, the idea of rebuilding a launch tower at SLC-41 began to get proposed following Sierra Nevada Corporation and Boeing's decisions to have the Atlas V launch their respective Dream Chaser and CST-100 Starliner spacecraft into orbit. Proposals turned into plans in 2014, following Boeing's winning of a contract as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program to launch astronauts to the ISS.[14] Pad modifications at SLC-41 began in September 2015 to support human spaceflight to support Starliner, including the addition of a launch service tower to provide access to the capsule for "pre-launch processing, crew access, and safety egress systems should the need to evacuate Starliner on the pad occur".[15][14] The first launch utilizing the newly-built launch tower came on December 20, 2019 with the launch of the Boeing Orbital Flight Test. This was followed up with the first crewed launch to be made from SLC-41, which occurred on June 5, 2024 with the Boeing Crew Flight Test and carried astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams into orbit. This was the first crewed launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station since Apollo 7 in 1968 and made SLC-41 the seventh pad in the Cape Canaveral area to launch astronauts into space.[a]

During the late 2010s and the early 2020s, SLC-41, the VIF, and the SMARF (which was renamed to the Spaceflight Processing Operations Center in 2019) underwent minor modifications to support Vulcan Centaur, the successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV. This was in part due to the Atlas V using the Russian-built RD-180 as its first stage engine, which drew concern among Congress following the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As the Atlas V still had numerous pending launches (mainly for Starliner and Kuiper satellites as payloads), SLC-41's modifications were made to allow both rockets to take off from the pad, rather than a more traditional renovation like what was seen at Vandenberg's SLC-3E. The first Vulcan launch to be made from the pad occurred on January 8, 2024, carrying Peregine Mission One to the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services.

Launch history

[edit]
Map
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Maps: terms of use
4km
2.5miles
28
28 LC-29
28 LC-29
27
27 LC-25
27 LC-25
26
26 LC-30
26 LC-30
25
25 LC-5 and LC-6
25 LC-5 and LC-6
24
24 LC-26
24 LC-26
23
23 SLC-17
23 SLC-17
22
22 LC-18
22 LC-18
21
21 LC-31 and LC-32
21 LC-31 and LC-32
20
20 LC-21 and LC-22
20 LC-21 and LC-22
19
19 SLC-46
19 SLC-46
18
18 LC-1, LC-2, LC-3, and LC-4
18 LC-1, LC-2, LC-3, and LC-4
17
17 LC-36
17 LC-36
16
16 LC-11
16 LC-11
15
15 LC-12
15 LC-12
14
14 LC-13 (LZ-1 & LZ-2)
14 LC-13 (LZ-1 & LZ-2)
13
13 LC-14
13 LC-14
12
12 LC-15
12 LC-15
11
11 LC-16
11 LC-16
10
10 LC-19
10 LC-19
9
9 SLC-20
9 SLC-20
8
8 LC-34
8 LC-34
7
7 SLC-37
7 SLC-37
6
6 LC-47
6 LC-47
5
5 SLC-40
5 SLC-40
4
4 SLC-41
4 SLC-41
3
3 LC-48
3 LC-48
2
2 LC-39A
2 LC-39A
1
1 LC-39B
1 LC-39B

  Active pads
  Active pads not used for launches
  Inactive leased pads
  Inactive unleased pads

Statistics

[edit]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025

List of launches

[edit]

Titan III and IV

[edit]

All launches operated by the United States Air Force.

No. Date Time (UTC) Launch vehicle Serial number/Configuration Payload/Mission Result
1 21 December 1965 14:00 Titan IIIC 3C-8 LES-3 and LES-4 Partial failure
2 16 June 1966 14:00 Titan IIIC 3C-11 OPS-9311 to OPS-9317 (IDCSP) Success
3 26 August 1966 14:00 Titan IIIC 3C-12 IDCSP × 7 Failure
4 18 January 1967 14:19 Titan IIIC 3C-13 OPS-9321 to OPS-9328 (IDCSP) Success
5 28 April 1967 10:01 Titan IIIC 3C-10 OPS-6638 and OPS-6679 (Vela) Success
6 1 July 1967 13:15 Titan IIIC 3C-14 OPS-9331 to OPS-9334 (IDCSP) and LES-5 Success
7 13 June 1968 14:03 Titan IIIC 3C-16 OPS-9341 to OPS-9348 (IDCSP) Success
8 26 September 1968 07:37 Titan IIIC 3C-5 LES-6 Success
9 9 February 1969 21:09 Titan IIIC 3C-17 TACSAT-1 Success
10 23 May 1969 07:57 Titan IIIC 3C-15 OPS-6909 and OPS-6911 (Vela) Success
11 11 February 1974 13:48 Titan IIIE 23E-1 Sphinx Failure
12 10 December 1974 07:11 Titan IIIE 23E-2 Helios-A Success
13 20 August 1975 21:22 Titan IIIE 23E-4 Viking 1 Success
14 9 September 1975 18:39 Titan IIIE 23E-3 Viking 2 Success
15 15 January 1976 05:34 Titan IIIE 23E-5 Helios-B Success
16 20 August 1977 14:29 Titan IIIE 23E-7 Voyager 2 Success
17 5 September 1977 12:56 Titan IIIE 23E-6 Voyager 1 Success
18 14 June 1989 13:18 Titan IV K-1, 402A / IUS USA-39 (DSP-14) Success
19 8 June 1990 05:21 Titan IV K-4, 405A USA-59 to USA-62 (SLDCOM and NOSS) Success
20 13 November 1990 00:37 Titan IV K-6, 402A / IUS USA-65 (DSP-15) Success
21 3 May 1994 15:55 Titan IV K-7, 401A / Centaur USA-103 (Trumpet) Success
22 27 August 1994 08:58 Titan IV K-9, 401A / Centaur USA-105 (Mercury) Success
23 10 July 1995 12:38 Titan IV K-19, 401A / Centaur USA-112 (Trumpet) Success
24 24 April 1996 23:37 Titan IV K-16, 401A / Centaur USA-118 (Mercury) Success
25 8 November 1997 02:05 Titan IV A-17, 401A / Centaur USA-136 (Trumpet) Success
26 12 August 1998 11:30 Titan IV A-20, 401A / Centaur NROL-7 Failure
27 9 April 1999 17:01 Titan IV B-27, 402B / IUS USA-142 (DSP-19) Failure

Pre-Starliner Atlas V

[edit]

All launches from 2002 to 2006 operated by Lockheed Martin. All launches since 2007 operated by United Launch Alliance.

No. Date Time (UTC) Launch vehicle Serial number/Configuration Payload/Mission Result
28 21 August 2002 22:05 Atlas V AV-001, 401 Hot Bird 6 Success
29 13 May 2003 22:10 Atlas V AV-002, 401 Hellas Sat 2 Success
30 17 July 2003 23:45 Atlas V AV-003, 521 Rainbow-1 Success
31 17 December 2004 12:07 Atlas V AV-005, 521 AMC-16 Success
32 11 March 2005 21:42 Atlas V AV-004, 431 Inmarsat-4 F1 Success
33 12 August 2005 11:43 Atlas V AV-007, 401 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Success
34 19 January 2006 19:00 Atlas V AV-010, 551 New Horizons Success
35 20 April 2006 20:27 Atlas V AV-008, 411 Astra 1KR Success
36 9 March 2007 03:10 Atlas V AV-013, 401 STP-1 Success
37 15 June 2007 15:12 Atlas V AV-009, 401 NROL-30 Partial failure
38 11 October 2007 00:22 Atlas V AV-011, 421 WGS-1 Success
39 10 December 2007 22:05 Atlas V AV-015, 401 NROL-24 Success
40 14 April 2008 20:12 Atlas V AV-014, 421 ICO G1 Success
41 4 April 2009 00:31 Atlas V AV-016, 421 WGS-2 Success
42 18 June 2009 21:32 Atlas V AV-020, 401 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS Success
43 8 September 2009 21:35 Atlas V AV-018, 401 PAN Success
44 23 November 2009 06:55 Atlas V AV-024, 431 Intelsat 14 Success
45 11 February 2010 15:23 Atlas V AV-021, 401 Solar Dynamics Observatory Success
46 22 April 2010 23:52 Atlas V AV-012, 501 X-37B OTV-1 Success
47 14 August 2010 11:07 Atlas V AV-019, 531 AEHF-1 Success
48 5 March 2011 22:46 Atlas V AV-026, 531 X-37B OTV-2 Success
49 7 May 2011 18:10 Atlas V AV-022, 401 SBIRS GEO-1 Success
50 5 August 2011 16:25 Atlas V AV-029, 551 Juno Success
51 26 November 2011 15:02 Atlas V AV-028, 541 Mars Science Laboratory Success
52 24 February 2012 22:15 Atlas V AV-030, 551 MUOS-1 Success
53 4 May 2012 18:42 Atlas V AV-031, 531 AEHF-2 Success
54 20 June 2012 12:28 Atlas V AV-023, 401 NROL-38 Success
55 30 August 2012 08:05 Atlas V AV-032, 401 Van Allen Probes Success
56 11 December 2012 18:03 Atlas V AV-034, 501 X-37B OTV-3 Success
57 31 January 2013 01:48 Atlas V AV-036, 401 TDRS-11 Success
58 19 March 2013 21:21 Atlas V AV-037, 401 SBIRS GEO 2 Success
59 15 May 2013 21:38 Atlas V AV-039, 401 GPS IIF-4 Success
60 19 July 2013 13:00 Atlas V AV-040, 551 MUOS-2 Success
61 18 September 2013 08:10 Atlas V AV-041, 531 AEHF-3 Success
62 18 November 2013 18:28 Atlas V AV-038, 401 MAVEN Success
63 24 January 2014 02:33 Atlas V AV-043, 401 TDRS-12 Success
64 10 April 2014 17:45 Atlas V AV-045, 541 NROL-67 Success
65 22 May 2014 13:09 Atlas V AV-046, 401 NROL-33 Success
66 2 August 2014 03:23 Atlas V AV-048, 401 GPS IIF-7 Success
67 17 September 2014 00:10 Atlas V AV-049, 401 CLIO Success
68 29 October 2014 17:01 Atlas V AV-050, 401 GPS IIF-8 Success
69 21 January 2015 01:04 Atlas V AV-052, 551 MUOS-3 Success
70 13 March 2015 02:44 Atlas V AV-053, 421 Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Success
71 20 May 2015 15:05 Atlas V AV-054, 501 X-37B OTV-4 Success
72 15 July 2015 15:36 Atlas V AV-055, 401 GPS IIF-10 Success
73 2 September 2015 10:18 Atlas V AV-056, 551 MUOS-4 Success
74 2 October 2015 10:28 Atlas V AV-059, 421 Morelos-3 Success
75 31 October 2015 16:13 Atlas V AV-060, 401 GPS IIF-11 Success
76 6 December 2015 21:44 Atlas V AV-061, 401 Cygnus CRS OA-4 Success
77 5 February 2016 13:38 Atlas V AV-057, 401 GPS IIF-12 Success
78 23 March 2016 03:05 Atlas V AV-064, 401 Cygnus CRS OA-6 Success
79 24 June 2016 14:30 Atlas V AV-063, 551 MUOS-5 Success
80 28 July 2016 12:37 Atlas V AV-065, 421 NROL-61 Success
81 8 September 2016 23:05 Atlas V AV-067, 411 OSIRIS-REx Success
82 19 November 2016 23:42 Atlas V AV-069, 541 GOES-16 Success
83 18 December 2016 19:13 Atlas V AV-071, 431 EchoStar 19 Success
84 21 January 2017 00:42 Atlas V AV-066, 401 SBIRS GEO-3 Success
85 18 April 2017 15:11 Atlas V AV-070, 401 Cygnus CRS OA-7 Success
86 18 August 2017 12:29 Atlas V AV-074, 401 TDRS-13 Success
87 15 October 2017 07:28 Atlas V AV-075, 421 NROL-52 Success
88 20 January 2018 00:48 Atlas V AV-076, 411 SBIRS GEO-4 Success
89 1 March 2018 22:02 Atlas V AV-077, 541 GOES-17 Success
90 14 April 2018 23:13 Atlas V AV-079, 551 AFSPC-11 Success
91 17 October 2018 04:15 Atlas V AV-073, 551 AEHF-4 Success
92 8 August 2019 10:13 Atlas V AV-083. 551 AEHF-5 Success

Starliner-era Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur

[edit]

All launches operated by United Launch Alliance.

No. Date Time (UTC) Launch vehicle Serial number/Configuration Payload/Mission Result
93 20 December 2019 11:36 Atlas V AV-080, N22 Boeing OFT Success
94 10 February 2020 04:03 Atlas V AV-087, 411 Solar Orbiter Success
95 26 March 2020 20:18 Atlas V AV-086, 551 AEHF-6 Success
16 17 May 2020 13:14 Atlas V AV-081, 501 X-37B OTV-6 Success
97 30 July 2020 11:50 Atlas V AV-088, 541 Mars 2020 Success
98 13 November 2020 22:32 Atlas V AV-090, 531 NROL-101 Success
99 18 May 2021 17:37 Atlas V AV-091, 421 SBIRS GEO 5 Success
100 16 October 2021 09:34 Atlas V AV-096, 401 Lucy Success
101 7 December 2021 10:19 Atlas V AV-093, 551 STP-3 Success
102 21 January 2022 19:00 Atlas V AV-084, 511 GSSAP 5 & 6 Success
103 1 March 2022 21:38 Atlas V AV-095, 541 GOES-18 Success
104 19 May 2022 22:54 Atlas V AV-082, N22 Boeing OFT-2 Success
105 1 July 2022 23:15 Atlas V AV-094, 541 WFOV Success
106 4 August 2022 10:29 Atlas V AV-097, 421 SBIRS GEO-6 Success
107 4 October 2022 21:36 Atlas V AV-099, 531 SES-20 & SES-21 Success
108 10 September 2023 12:47 Atlas V AV-102, 551 NROL-107 Success
109 6 October 2023 18:06 Atlas V AV-104, 501 KuiperSat-1 & KuiperSat-2 Success
110 8 January 2024 07:18 Vulcan Centaur Flight 1, VC2S Peregrine Mission One Success
111 5 June 2024 14:52 Atlas V AV-085, N22 Boeing CFT Success
112 30 July 2024 10:45 Atlas V AV-101, 551 USSF-51 Success
113 4 October 2024 11:25 Vulcan Centaur Flight 2, VC2S Certification Flight 2 Success
[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ In chronological order, it joins: LC-5 (Mercury-Redstone 3), LC-14 (Mercury-Atlas 6), LC-19 (Gemini 3), LC-34 (Apollo 7), LC-39A (Apollo 8), and LC-39B (Apollo 10). Following the launch of CFT-1, it was also joined by SLC-40 (SpaceX Crew-9) in September 2024.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ McDowell, Jonathan (1998-02-22). "Issue 350". Jonathan's Space Report. Jonathan's Space Page. Archived from the original on 2010-05-03. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
  2. ^ USAF Supports NASA's Dual Lunar Exploratory Missions
  3. ^ "Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum". ccspacemuseum.org. Retrieved 2025-04-06.
  4. ^ Roy McCullough (September 2001). "Missiles at the Cape". US Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the original on January 29, 2016.
  5. ^ "Complex 41 / LC-41". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Launch Complex 41 (active)". Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  7. ^ "Titan 402B/IUS". astronautix.com. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  8. ^ "NROL-101 Launch Press Kit" (PDF). National Reconnaissance Office. October 29, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  9. ^ "Atlas V Roars Into Orbit On Maiden Flight With A HotBird". Spacedaily.com. Aug 21, 2002. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  10. ^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Hotbird 6 → Hotbird 13A → Eutelsat 8 West C → Eutelsat 33D → Eutelsat 70D". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  11. ^ 45th Space Wing Supports Successful Atlas V Juno Launch
  12. ^ The Associated Press (November 26, 2011). "NASA Launches Sophisticated Rover on Journey to Mars". The New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  13. ^ NASA Offers Media Access To Mars-Bound Rover On Aug. 12
  14. ^ a b Gebhardt, Chris (2015-10-08). "Canaveral and KSC pads: New designs for space access". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  15. ^ "Crew tower rising at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41".
[edit]

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station