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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.

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This massive structure of steel and concrete
has cradled rockets and guided each on their

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fiery ascent to space for over 50 years.

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There can be no launch without a launch-pad
and this hallowed ground has a history greater

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than any other.

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Having evolved and been reshaped for each
new era of space flight it’s alive… with

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a heartbeat as strong as the first. Launch Pad
39A came to life under the direction of project engineer Hary May

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as NASA ramped up it's efforts to achieve an unprecedented calling.

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Why, some say the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain?

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In 1962
earth moving machines sculpted its massive pyramid base to a height of forty feet.

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Then, concrete was poured to hold it in place.

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To launch the world’s first moon rocket,
engineers cut a flame trench nearly the length of

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two football fields down the middle of
the mound.

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It was then lined with heat resistant bricks to deflect seven and a half million poundsof earth rattling thrust.

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First felt on Apollo eight.

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Less than a year later, Apollo 11 launched from
pad 39A… and hundreds of millions of people

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around the world watched as it landed on the
moon three days later.

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Nearly a decade after this Apollo era, 39-A
again took center stage with a new, one-of-a-kind

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spacecraft: the Space Shuttle.

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Millions of pounds of additional steel for
service structures transformed the look,

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but not the purpose: human spaceflight.

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In all, 82 Space Shuttles blasted off from
39A, until the very last—

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T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, all three engines up and burning.

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2, 1, 0 and liftoff the final liftoff of Atlantis on the shoulders of the space shuttle America will continue the dream.

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With the fleet retired, demolition crews removed
the shuttle era hardware to clear the way

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for NASA’s monumental decision to lease
this historic launch site to the private company

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SpaceX.

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Today, it’s sleek and modern design supports
a family of rockets that has advanced the

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commercial age of American space flight.

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Now, 50 years after it first sent humans to the moon –

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this historic spaceport stands ready for the next wave of human exploration.