Many of NASA’s storied missions began their daring journey from the same exact spot on Earth – launch complex 39A – at the Kennedy Space Center.
This massive structure of steel and concrete has cradled rockets and guided each on their
fiery ascent to space for over 50 years.
There can be no launch without a launch-pad and this hallowed ground has a history greater
than any other.
Having evolved and been reshaped for each new era of space flight it’s alive… with
a heartbeat as strong as the first. Launch Pad 39A came to life under the direction of project engineer Hary May
as NASA ramped up it's efforts to achieve an unprecedented calling.
Why, some say the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain?
In 1962 earth moving machines sculpted its massive pyramid base to a height of forty feet.
Then, concrete was poured to hold it in place.
To launch the world’s first moon rocket, engineers cut a flame trench nearly the length of
two football fields down the middle of the mound.
It was then lined with heat resistant bricks to deflect seven and a half million poundsof earth rattling thrust.
First felt on Apollo eight.
Less than a year later, Apollo 11 launched from pad 39A… and hundreds of millions of people
around the world watched as it landed on the moon three days later.
Nearly a decade after this Apollo era, 39-A again took center stage with a new, one-of-a-kind
spacecraft: the Space Shuttle.
Millions of pounds of additional steel for service structures transformed the look,
but not the purpose: human spaceflight.
In all, 82 Space Shuttles blasted off from 39A, until the very last—
T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, all three engines up and burning.
2, 1, 0 and liftoff the final liftoff of Atlantis on the shoulders of the space shuttle America will continue the dream.
With the fleet retired, demolition crews removed the shuttle era hardware to clear the way
for NASA’s monumental decision to lease this historic launch site to the private company
SpaceX.
Today, it’s sleek and modern design supports a family of rockets that has advanced the
commercial age of American space flight.
Now, 50 years after it first sent humans to the moon –
this historic spaceport stands ready for the next wave of human exploration.