A landmark announcement by the U.S. Air Force and the state of Florida today states that they will fundamentally expand the state’s position and prominence in aerospace and the space industry in all three key sectors: civil, military and commercial, thereby broadening participation in space-related activities. Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, subject to completion of the environmental impact analysis process, will be re-built as a multi-use vertical launch complex capable of supporting several launch vehicle configurations ranging from light to medium-lift into low-Earth orbit and beyond.
“The Air Force assignment of Launch Complex 36, is an important next step to extending access to space, making it available to defense and security initiatives and multiple commercial payload and launch activities for both civil and private space businesses that wish to launch from Florida,” said Steve Kohler, president of Space Florida. “The Florida legislature demonstrated tremendous foresight when it appropriated initial funding of $14.5 million for FY 2009. This funding will help Space Florida begin the launch complex infrastructure design and construction necessary to develop a true commercial multi-use launch complex. This direction by the Air Force, together with the tremendous support by the state, opens the door to attracting, supporting and sustaining national and international aerospace business here in Florida,” Kohler said. “One of Space Florida’s next objectives is to establish a Commercial Launch Zone (CLZ) for commercial customers wishing to operate from the Eastern Range. The creation of a CLZ expands our ability to support commercial payload launch services, re-supply missions to the International Space Station, and aggressively diversify aerospace business development rapidly and efficiently.”
Launch Complex 36 was opened for business by NASA in 1961 and was most recently used as a military and commercial Atlas launch site. U.S. Surveyor, Mariner and Pioneer missions to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and other destinations were launched from this complex, followed in later years by weather satellites, military space assets and commercial satellite missions. The final rockets launched from Launch Complex 36 in 2004, and the Air Force shut down the complex at that time.
