Shuttle Discovery launching from Pad 39A on STS-60, FebruShuttle Atlantis is moved to Pad 39A for the 1990 launch of STS-36. Historical programs Apollo program įor a more comprehensive list, see List of space shuttle missions. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km 2). Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. On November 29, 1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963. The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km 2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km 2). Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island. Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public. Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km 2). Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad ( LC-39C) in 2015. Īdditionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida ( Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission. Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Kennedy Space Center ( KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |