SLC-40

23 'SLC-40' stories October 2021 - September 2024

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Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40, or SLC-40 (pronounced “slick 40”), is a launch complex located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Merritt Island, Florida. It was built in the 1960s for use to launch the US Air Force’s Titan III and family of rockets.

SLC-40 is located at the north end of the Space Force station, just south of SLC-41 which sits on Kennedy Space Center property. Currently, the pad is leased to and operated by SpaceX for its Falcon 9 rocket.

Photo a Falcon 9 rocket with new SLC-40 crew access arm in 2023. Image: SpaceX

The pad’s first launch took place on June 18, 1965 of a Titan IIIC rocket carrying two transtages for vehicle testing. SLC-40 continued being used to launch various Titan rockets including the Titan 34D, the Commercial Titan III, and Titan IVs until 2005.

The pad infrastructure was demolished in 2008 to make way for SpaceX to take over and develop it for the Falcon 9.

The Air Force officially leased the pad out to SpaceX in 2007. The company built a hanger for rocket assembly and several other improvements including getting a liquid oxygen sphere tank from NASA. SLC-40 featured the first launch of both SpaceX’s Falcon 9 1.0 rocket and Dragon capsule on a demo mission in 2010.

SLC-40 has now become the workhorse launch pad for SpaceX’s workhorse rocket launching the vast majority of missions so far in 2023. The pad recently received a new crew access tower to support future Dragon flights, which it loss to LC-39A after the upgrade to Dragon 2 in 2020.

SpaceX launches Crew-9, with room for Starliner astronauts

Seth Kurkowski Sep 29 2024 - 12:59 pm PT

SpaceX launched the two person crew of Crew-9 for NASA early Saturday afternoon from SLC-40. The mission is sending a NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut to the ISS for a six month stay, the two spare seats will be used to bring Starliner’s crew back at the completion of their mission.

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Watch SpaceX launch Crew-9 to the ISS

Seth Kurkowski Sep 28 2024 - 9:30 am PT

The launch of Crew-9 is underway and is set to launch at 1:17 P.M. ET from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Update: Launched!

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SpaceX is ready for its first crewed launch from SLC-40

Seth Kurkowski Sep 27 2024 - 2:01 pm PT

SpaceX is set and prepared to launch the two-person crew of Crew-9 on their Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS for a six-month stay. This marks two historic firsts for SpaceX and the US space program, SLC-40‘s first human spaceflight and the first Russian to be at the controls of an American spacecraft.

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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 returns to flight with a trio of Starlink launches

Seth Kurkowski Jul 28 2024 - 3:48 pm PT

After Thursday’s green light from the FAA to resume launches, SpaceX took no time to try to catch up on the last few week’s lack of Starlink missions. Using all three of its Falcon 9 launch sites, the company launched a total of 67 Starlink satellites into orbit.

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Axiom-3 could become SLC-40’s first crewed launch

Seth Kurkowski Nov 22 2023 - 6:00 am PT

Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s commercial space division, said that Axiom Space and SpaceX were in talks to fly Axiom-3 from SLC-40 rather than LC-39A like in the past. This would use the newly constructed crew access tower built to bring redundancy to SpaceX’s human spaceflight operations.

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SpaceX nails three launch weekend (ish) featuring two RTLS landings

Seth Kurkowski Nov 12 2023 - 5:39 pm PT

Over the weekend, SpaceX launched three Falcon 9 rockets from all three of its launch pads. The missions were all commercially purchased wither by NASA, SES, or in part of a rideshare program. Two out of the three flights featured RTLS landings at LZ-1 and 4, a rare occurrence.

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SpaceX adds new crew arm to launch tower at SLC-40

Seth Kurkowski Nov 8 2023 - 10:10 am PT

This week SpaceX hoisted up and attached a new crew access arm at the company’s SLC-40 pad. The addition of a second crew tower gives SpaceX the flexibility to launching at either of their East Coast launch sites.

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SpaceX racks up 50 launches from Florida’s Space Coast

Seth Kurkowski Oct 6 2023 - 2:15 pm PT

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch starlink

In the very early hours of Thursday, SpaceX launched its 71st rocket of the year, a run truly for the record books. Of those 71 50 came from the East Coast, a milestone any company would be happy to reach, SpaceX achieved from just one region.

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Launch Spotlight: SES-18/19 – SpaceX set to launch new communications satellites to orbit

Jared Locke Mar 15 2023 - 11:39 am PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on March 17, 2023, at 7:38 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry the SES-18 and SES-19 communications satellites to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: KPLO – SpaceX set to launch Danuri, the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter

Jared Locke Aug 4 2022 - 4:08 pm PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on August 4, 2022, at 7:08 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), which is officially named Danuri, to a 100km Polar Lunar Orbit.

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Starlink Group 4-9

Launch Spotlight: Starlink Group 4-21 – SpaceX set to launch new batch of Starlink satellites

Jared Locke Jul 6 2022 - 7:13 am PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2022, no earlier than 9:01 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry a new batch of Starlink satellites (Starlink Group 4-21) to a 53.2° inclination orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: SES-22 – SpaceX set to launch new communications satellite to orbit

Jared Locke Jun 29 2022 - 2:04 pm PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 29, 2022, at 5:04 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry the SES-22 communications satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Globalstar-2 M087 – SpaceX set to launch a new communications satellite

Jared Locke Jun 18 2022 - 9:27 pm PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 19, 2022, at 12:27 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry the Globalstar-2 M087 communications satellite to a 1,140 km, 52° inclination orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Nilesat-301 – SpaceX set to launch new Egyptian communication satellite

Jared Locke Jun 6 2022 - 6:41 am PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 8, 2022, at 5:04 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry the Nilesat-301 communications satellite to geostationary orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Transporter-5 – SpaceX set to launch new batch of rideshare satellites to space

Jared Locke May 25 2022 - 11:35 am PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 25, 2022, at 2:35 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry a new batch of 59 rideshare satellites to a Sun-synchronous orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Starlink Group 4-15 – SpaceX launches new batch of starlink satellites

Jared Locke May 14 2022 - 1:40 pm PT

SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 14, 2022, at 4:40 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry a new batch of 53 Starlink satellites to a 53.2° inclination orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Starlink Group 4-16 − SpaceX launches new batch of Starlink satellites

Jared Locke Apr 29 2022 - 2:27 pm PT

SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on April 29, 2022, at 5:27 p.m. EDT. This launch carried a new batch of 53 Starlink satellites to a 53.2° inclination orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Starlink Group 4-14 – SpaceX launches a new batch of Starlink satellites

Jared Locke Apr 21 2022 - 10:51 am PT

SpaceX laucnhed a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on April 21, 2022, at 1:51 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry a new batch of 53 Starlink satellites to a 53.2° inclination orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Transporter-4 – SpaceX launches new batch of rideshare payloads

Jared Locke Apr 1 2022 - 9:24 am PT

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on April 1, 2022, at 12:24 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry a batch of 40 rideshare payloads to a Sun-Synchronous Orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Starlink Group 4-12 – SpaceX launches new batch of Starlink satellites

Jared Locke Mar 18 2022 - 9:42 pm PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on March 19, 2022, at 12:42 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry a new batch of 53 Starlink satellites to a 53.2° inclination orbit.

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Launch Spotlight: Starlink Group 4-10 – SpaceX launches a new batch of Starlink satellites

Jared Locke Mar 9 2022 - 5:45 am PT

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on March 9, 2022, at 8:45 a.m. EST. This launch will carry a new batch of 48 Starlink satellites to a 53.2° inclination orbit.

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Scoop: Improvements coming to SpaceX launch pad hint at ‘big’ things coming to SLC-40

Derek Wise Oct 26 2021 - 5:02 pm PT

Starship could come to SpaceX's SLC-40

A recent permit filed for water drainage at SLC-40 supports rumors that SpaceX’s Starship rocket could be coming to SpaceX’s launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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