LAUNCH COMPLEX 39: THE PADS THAT LAUNCHED EVERYTHING
Every crewed Moon landing. Every Space Shuttle mission. The return of American lunar
rockets. No ground on Earth has seen more history leave it than Launch Complex 39.
BUILT FOR GIANTS
LC-39 was carved out of the Florida coast in the 1960s at a scale nothing before had required: the Vehicle Assembly Building tall enough to stack a Saturn V indoors, crawler-transporters to carry it to the pad, and two launch pads — 39A and 39B — built to survive it.
FROM APOLLO TO SHUTTLE
Every mission that landed humans on the Moon lifted off from Pad 39A.
When Apollo ended, the complex was rebuilt for the Space Shuttle and hosted all 135 of its launches across thirty years.
A NEW ERA
Today 39A launches commercial rockets under lease to SpaceX, while 39B — modernized as a 'clean pad' — sends Artemis missions back toward the Moon.
The same flame trenches that swallowed Saturn exhaust now serve a new generation.
THE GROUND BENEATH HISTORY
Machines change. The ground doesn't.
Stand on the Space Coast during any launch from 39 and you're watching the newest chapter of the longest-running story in spaceflight.
ROCKETS COME AND GO. LAUNCH COMPLEX 39 LAUNCHES THEM ALL.
