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Location:
USA,
Florida, Kennedy Space Centre
Category:
Space
Centre
View
Description:
View of the Space Shuttle
Launch Pad of the Kennedy Space
Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Location Information:
The
John F Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is
the U.S. government installation
that manages and operates America's
astronaut launch facilities.
Currently serving as the base for
the country's three space shuttles,
the NASA field center also conducts
unmanned civilian launches from
adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station (operated by the 45th Space
Wing). KSC has been the launch site
for every U.S. human space flight
since 1968. Its iconic Vehicle
Assembly Building (VAB) is the
fourth-largest structure in the
world by volume.
Located on Merritt Island, Florida,
the center is north-northwest of
Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic
Ocean, midway between Miami and
Jacksonville. It is 34 miles (55 km)
long and roughly 6 miles (10 km)
wide, covering 219 square miles (570
km2). A total of 13,500 people
worked at the center as of 2008.
STS-60 shuttle launch from Pad 39A
on February 3, 1994All launch
operations are conducted at Launch
Complex 39 (LC-39), where the
shuttle's major components (orbiter,
external fuel tank and booster
rockets) arrive, are stacked (mated)
and checked out inside the VAB; then
moved to Pad 39A for launch.
Shuttles were also launched from
adjoining Pad 39B until 2007, when
it was modified for the 2009 Ares
I-X launch. Both pads are on the
ocean, 3 miles (5 km) east of the
VAB. The Shuttle Landing Facility,
among the longest runways in the
world, is just to the north. From
1969–1972, LC-39 was the departure
point for all six Apollo manned moon
landing missions using the Saturn V,
the largest and most powerful
operational launch vehicle in
history.
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