 Atlas with Mariner 3 at Launch Complex 13 prior to launch on 4 November 1964 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | 28°29′09″N 80°32′40″W / 28.4859°N 80.5444°W | ||||||||||
| Time zone | UTC−05:00 (EST) | ||||||||||
• Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) | ||||||||||
| Short name | LC-13 | ||||||||||
| Operator | US Space Force NASA | ||||||||||
| Total launches | 52 | ||||||||||
| Launch pad(s) | One[1] | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Launch Complex 13 (LC-13) was a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCAS), the third-most southerly of the original launch complexes known as Missile Row, lying between LC-12 and LC-14. In 2015, the LC-13 site was leased by SpaceX and was renovated for use as Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2, the company's East Coast landing location for returning Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicle booster stages. It is leased by US Space Force to Phantom Space and Vaya Space who will operate this launch complex after the termination of SpaceX's lease in future.[2]
LC-13 was originally used for test launches of the SM-65 Atlas and subsequently for operational Atlas launches from 1958 to 1978.[3] It was the most-used and longest-serving of the original four Atlas pads.[note 1] It was inactive between 1980 and 2015.
On 16 April 1984, it was added to the US National Register of Historic Places; however it was not maintained and gradually deteriorated. On 6 August 2005 the mobile service tower was demolished as a safety precaution due to structural damage by corrosion.[4][note 2] The blockhouse was demolished in 2012.[5]
LC-13 was on land owned by the US government and was originally controlled by the United States Air Force. It was transferred to NASA in 1964 and back to the Air Force in 1970. In January 2015, the land and remaining facilities at LC-13 were leased to SpaceX for a five-year lease.[6]
- ^ William Graham (March 28, 2022). ""Missile Row" pads at Cape Canaveral returning to action". nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ a b c @TGMetsFan98 (March 7, 2023). "The US Space Force and @SLDelta45 have newly allocated three launch pads to four companies: SLC-15 (former Titan pad) to ABL Space Systems; SLC-14 (former Atlas pad) to Stoke Space; SLC-13 to Phantom Space and Vaya Space. Interestingly, SLC-13 is currently LZ-1 and 2" (Tweet). Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sdc20150210was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Spaceflight Now - Breaking News - Historic Cape Canaveral launch pad toppled".
- ^ "Launch Complex 13". afspacemuseum.org. Archived from the original on 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
- ^ Clark, Stephen (17 February 2015). "SpaceX leases property for landing pads at Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).