Portal:Space exploration/Featured/May 2007

Launch Complex 39 is a large site and a collection of facilities at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, USA, originally built for the Apollo program, and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations. NASA will again modify LC-39 starting in 2007 to accommodate Project Constellation.

The initial design of the launch complex contained 5 pads that were evenly spaced 8700 feet apart to avoid damage in the event of a pad explosion. 3 were scheduled for construction, 2 reserved for future use. The numbering of the pads at the time was from north to south, with the northern most being LC39A, and the southern being LC39C. LC39A was never built, and LC39C became LC39A in 1963.

With the planned retirement of the Shuttle in 2010, NASA will modify the two launch pads to accommodate the manned Ares I (formerly the Crew Launch Vehicle – CLV) and the unmanned Ares V (formerly the Cargo Launch Vehicle – CaLV) in support of Project Constellation. Prior to the announcement that Ares would use LC-39, officials in Florida were concerned by the possibility that the Space Shuttle's successor project may not have launched from Kennedy Space Center.

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