Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
The Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is a part of the United States Air Force Space Command. The Space Command's 45th Space Wing is based at the nearby Patrick Air Force Base. The CCSFS is at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is next to the Kennedy Space Center which is on Merritt Island. The two facilities have access to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Skid Strip which is a large 3,000-metre (10,000-foot) runway for military aircraft bringing heavy and oversize loads. the CCSFS has four active launch pads for space rockets.
| Cape Canaveral Space Force Station | |
|---|---|
| Part of Patrick Air Force Base | |
| Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States | |
| Cape canaveral crop.jpg | |
| Type | Rocket Launch Site |
| Coordinates | 28°29′20″N 80°34′40″W / 28.48889°N 80.57778°WCoordinates: 28°29′20″N 80°34′40″W / 28.48889°N 80.57778°W |
| Built | 1940[1] |
| In use | 1948–present |
| Current owner |
U.S. Department of Defense |
| Open to the public |
No |
| Controlled by | 45th Space Wing |
| Events | Space Race |
| Air Force Space Command Logo.svg | |
Many space missions have been launched from CCSFS. For example:
- Explorer 1 the first U.S. earth satellite (1958)
- MR-3 with Alan Shepard, the first U.S. astronaut (1961)
- Mercury-Atlas 6 with John Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut in orbit (1962)
- Gemini 3, the first two-man U.S. spacecraft (1965)
- Surveyor 1, the first U.S. unmanned lunar landing (1966)
- Apollo 7, the first three-man U.S. spacecraft (1968)
- Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to orbit Mars (1971)
- Mars Pathfinder, the first mission to roam the surface of Mars (1996)
- Pioneer program, the first American spacecraft to orbit and land on Venus (1978)
- Cassini−Huygens, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn (2004)
- MESSENGER which orbited Mercury (2011).
- Space Launch Delta 45 emblem.png
Space Launch Delta 45 emblem
- Bumper8 launch-GPN-2000-000613.jpg
A Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral, on July 24, 1950.
- Alan Shepard in Mercury Control Center.jpg
Alan Shepard watches Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 launch in the Mercury Control Center.
- Gemini-Titan 11 Launch - GPN-2000-001020.jpg
Lift-off of Gemini-Titan 11 (GT-11) on Complex 19. The Gemini 11 mission included a rendezvous with an Agena target vehicle.
- Atlas-Agena 6 Launch.jpg
Atlas-Agena target vehicle
- Werner Von Braun and President John F. Kennedy at Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex - 1963 - 63PC-0095.jpg
Wernher von Braun explains the Saturn system to President Kennedy during his tour at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex on November 16, 1963.
The Apollo 7 Saturn IB space vehicle is launched from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 34 at 11:03 a.m. October 11, 1968. A tracking antenna is on the left and a pad service structure on the right.
- Pioneer I on the Launch Pad - GPN-2002-000204.jpg
Pioneer 1 atop its launcher
- PGM-11 Redstone RS-4.jpg
PGM-11 Redstone RS-4 at LC-4
- Navaho launch.jpg
Launch of a Navaho from LC-9
Related pages
References
- ↑ "Patrick Air Force Base – FAQ Topic". Patrick Air Force Base. Archived from the original on November 17, 2007.
