![\"2015-05-23-124804\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/2015-05-23-124804-350x221.jpg\")
Cape Canaveral became a sprawling line of launch facilities, with pads stretching up from Port Canaveral.<\/p>\nPhysical changes to a number of historic pads located on Florida\u2019s Space Coast are progressing apace, with Cape Canaveral\u2019s SLC-41 now enjoying modification work to prepare it for crewed launches of Boeing\u2019s CST-100. The work is being conducted at the same time as two nearby pads \u2013 LC39A and 39B \u2013 continue their conversations to host SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy and NASA\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS).\n<\/p>\n
SLC-41:<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s world famous Space Coast has been the site of rocket launches ever since the Bumper 8 V-2 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 3 in 1950.<\/p>\n
Cape Canaveral became a sprawling line of launch facilities, with pads stretching up from Port Canaveral.<\/p>\n
One of those pads \u2013 Space Launch Complex -41 (SLC-41) \u2013 was constructed in the 1960\u2019s and was first used by the Titan IIIC rocket in December 1965.<\/p>\n
The pad has a deep history, hosting the Titan IIIE in 1970, which deployed the Viking missions to Mars, the Voyager probes to the Outer Planets and the Helios spacecraft which studied the Sun.<\/p>\n
After the Titan IIIE was retired in 1977, the complex fell out of use and would not see another launch for twelve years.<\/p>\n
Launches resumed with the Titan IV in 1989. However, the final Titan launch from the pad was a failed attempt to place a Defense Support Program satellite into geosynchronous orbit in 1999.<\/p>\n
Space tourism guides (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Demolished and rebuilt for the Atlas V, the next launch from SLC-41 was the Atlas\u2019 maiden flight in 2002, which carried Eutelsat\u2019s Hot Bird 6 (now Eutelsat 8 West C) communications satellite.<\/p>\n Its latest launch was conducted just days ago, with the Atlas V 501 lofting the US Air Force\u2019s latest X-37B spaceplane mission, designated Air Force Space Command 5 (AFSPC-5).<\/p>\n At the time of launch, work had already begun near the pad for a return of Atlas\u2019 crew launch capability.<\/p>\n It was an Atlas booster that launched John Glenn into space inside Friendship 7 in 1962, sending the first American into orbit around the planet.<\/p>\n The United Launch Alliance (ULA) selected Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando to provide program management contractor support for the management of the design, requirements development, cost and schedule projections, and risk mitigation for modifications to the launch facilities for commercial crew operations.<\/p>\n The construction of the tiers was completed off site prior to arriving by truck at SLC-41, allowing the pad to continue its Atlas V launch campaign without any schedule interruptions.<\/p>\n It will take five tiers to complete the 200-foot-tall structure before they are outfitted with electrical systems and elevators.<\/p>\n Should all go to plan, the second mission will involve a crew \u2013 yet to be selected \u2013 on a mission designated \u201cBoe-CFT\u201d, launching in July, 2017 \u2013 on a 14 day mission to the ISS.<\/p>\n CST-100\u2019s will meet up with the Atlas V booster after being processed at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).<\/p>\n The spacecraft\u2019s Florida home will be the former Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF High Bay 3) \u2013 with a change to its call sign to the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) \u2013 which is deep into its transition, following the October, 2011 deal for a 15 year lease, agreed between NASA and Space Florida \u2013 the State\u2019s aerospace economic development agency.<\/p>\n LC-39A and 39B:<\/p>\n KSC\u2019s two historic pads are also deep into their own transition, with 39A preparing to host SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket.<\/p>\n This has been a speedy turnaround of the former Shuttle launch complex since SpaceX took control of the pad on a 20 year lease. Work on the site only began late last year with the pile driving of the building\u2019s foundations.<\/p>\n The building now has most of its outer skin, while the bridge cranes have been installed inside the building.<\/p>\n The debut Falcon Heavy will undergo a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) on the pad later this year, departing the HIF on the Transporter Erector \u2013 or TEL (Transport\/Erector\/Launch) that is currently being worked on inside the building.<\/p>\n Per a sighting on Friday (L2), the subsections are being transported on a SpaceX truck on the road alongside the crawlerway.<\/p>\n Once integrated with the Transporter Erector, the Falcon Heavy vehicle will be rolled up the incline at 39A on rails and erected on the launch mount that now appears to be nearing completion over the flame trench. The incline ramp has also received a large amount of work.<\/p>\n The first operational mission is with the Space Test Program-2 \u2013 as its primary payload \u2013 which still has a KSC schedule placeholder of NET (No Earlier Than) date of April, 2016.<\/p>\n However, that date \u2013 likely to be later in 2016 \u2013 won\u2019t be confirmed until after the demo flight has been conducted.<\/p>\n At next door\u2019s 39B, most of the visual changes are now complete, following the removal of its Shuttle infrastructure during its conversion into a \u201cclean pad\u201d.<\/p>\n The latest work involved preparations for the installation of a new Flame Deflector and associated Flame Trench work.<\/p>\n It was also recently announced the pad is already being prepared for the larger versions of the SLS.<\/p>\n Those considerations include work to provide the pad\u2019s Catacomb Roof with reinforcements, allowing it to cope with increased power of the SLS Block 1B rocket that is set to become NASA\u2019s heavy lift workhorse throughout the 2020s.<\/p>\n While the nature of 39B\u2019s \u201cclean pad\u201d will allow for launches of other launch vehicles \u2013 along with the potential for small launchers to set sail from inside the complex \u2013 only SLS has been confirmed as a future tenant of the former Saturn V and Space Shuttle pad.<\/p>\n Images: NASA, L2 SpaceX, L2 Historical and L2 artist Nathan Koga.)<\/p>\n (L2 is \u2013 as it has been for the past several years \u2013 providing full exclusive SLS and Exploration Planning coverage. To join L2, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Physical changes to a number of historic pads located on Florida\u2019s Space Coast are progressing apace, with Cape Canaveral\u2019s SLC-41 now enjoying modification work to prepare it for crewed launches of Boeing\u2019s CST-100. The work is being conducted at the same time as two nearby pads \u2013 LC39A and 39B \u2013 continue their conversations to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"2015-01-30](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/2015-01-30-11_09_33-ccicap_render_2.jpg-Paint-350x212.jpg\")
Construction of the first two tiers of the new crew access tower for SLC-41 is laying the foundations for a tower to enable future astronauts and ground support teams can access Boeing\u2019s CST-100 spacecraft for missions to the International Space Station (ISS).<\/p>\n![\"2015-05-23-015249\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/2015-05-23-015249-350x242.jpg\")
\u201cHensel Phelps brings significant experience working major construction projects including the original construction for Atlas V at SLC-41, as well as Atlas modifications at SLC-3 in California,\u201d noted ULA\u2019s Dr. George Sowers back in 2012.<\/p>\n![\"2015-01-30](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/2015-01-30-11_12_56-Boeing-CST-100-HR-Updates-and-Images-350x239.jpg\")
The first CST-100 launch on an Atlas V will be an uncrewed test flight to the Station via the \u201cBoe-OFT\u201d mission in April, 2017 \u2013 on a 30 days mission, ending with a parachute assisted return. <\/p>\n![\"2015-05-23-021008\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/2015-05-23-021008-350x250.jpg\")
SpaceX\u2019s new Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) building is closing in on the final stages of its construction. (Image left taken Friday, via L2\u2019s 39A coverage)<\/p>\n![\"2015-05-23-023251\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/2015-05-23-023251-350x229.jpg\")
Sections of this hardware were seen arriving at 39A on Friday (L2), with the welded subsections taking the short trip from the S Hangar at KSC, where they have been worked on for the past several months.<\/p>\n![\"2015-05-23-021210\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/2015-05-23-021210-350x244.jpg\")
While SpaceX has claimed it will be able to launch the debut Falcon Heavy on a demo mission in 2015, early 2016 appears to be more realistic.<\/p>\n![\"2015-02-20](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2015-02-20-17_11_32-L2-Level_-Space-Launch-System-Update-Notes-And-Discussion-Sept-2014-onwards-350x277.jpg\")
This pad will host the Space Launch System, with the opening flight set to take place in 2018.<\/p>\n