"It was one of those bleached, sandy, bare-boned stretches where
the land that any sane man wants runs out... and the government takes it
over for testing hot and dangerous machines." Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff
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Complexes 3 and 4 were among the first built at Cape Canaveral.
These complexes supported the BOMARC surface-to-air interceptor missile
program, Bumper rockets (based in part on the German V2), and other missile
operations.
Blockhouse 3/4, the control center for many of these early launches, stands long since unused. The slotted areas seen near the top of the outer portions of the blockhouse held large mirrors (the one on the left is still in place) that acted as giant periscopes to allow members of the launch team to see outside while remaining safely behind a thick wall of concrete. In the center there is a single, smaller, blast-resistant window. Unfortunately, the area around this blockhouse was cleaned up just prior to my taking this photograph (in preparation for events marking 50 years of launches from Cape Canaveral Air Station). |
| Partially flooded, the interior is damp, musty and falling apart. |
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Most of the deactivated launch complexes stand along "ICBM Road".
Complex 16 was one of a number built to support the Titan Ballistic Missile
Program. Built in the late 50's, Complex 16 was used to launch Titan II
missiles. It was later used by NASA for static firings of Apollo components
and still later by the Army for Pershing missile launches. Complex 16 was
deactivated in 1988 and is periodically inspected as part of the Intermediate
Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
This dome shaped blockhouse is similar to many others built at the Cape. It housed a 2 story tall launch control center. Although it had no windows, two periscopes still protrude from its roof. Most of these blockhouses have long since been stripped of their consoles and equipment and are now used solely as storage facilities. |
| This image shows part of the cable tunnel running from the blockhouse to the pad. |
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| Little remains of the launch pad however, one can see where the steel service structure was cut away with torches. |
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Completed in 1962, Launch Complex 34 played a pivotal and tragic
role in America's race to the moon. It was on this pad on January 27, 1967
that astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died during a countdown
simulation. The Apollo 1 Fire, as it later became known, set the Apollo
program back over a year as investigations and redesigns were undertaken.
The launch pedestal can be seen in the back of this picture. The pad surface underneath the pedestal is made of refractory brick. Unmanned Saturn rockets were launched from atop this pedestal as well as the manned Apollo 7 Mission. At one point, Complex 34 was considered for use in the Skylab program, but was ultimately rejected in favor of Complex 39. Complex 34 was mothballed in 1971 and its steel service structure was scrapped a year later. Complex 34 has been declared a national historic landmark. |
| Blockhouse 34's twin periscopes hang quietly amid a second floor
that was once filled with rows of consoles and instrumentation racks. In
the far back, left, stands a withered wreath left from an annual memorial
service held with the families of the Apollo 1 astronauts.
Modeled after the LC-20 Blockhouse, this control center has a concrete and earth domed roof over 12 feet (3.7 m) thick in areas. In the event that an explosion blocked the blast door, ladders on the first floor allowed access to two escape tunnels that could be used as alternate egress routes. |
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All of the men who have walked on the Moon departed Earth from
Launch Complex 39 (LC-39). In order to enter their Saturn V spacecraft
these astronauts had to first traverse the Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT).
This steel tower, which stood nearly 400 feet tall, provided both the elevators
to reach the command module and the service arms which supplied fuel, power
and instrumentation to the rocket as it sat on the pad.
Following the end of the Apollo Program, portions of the LUT were modified and reused as a service structure for the Space Shuttle Program which also uses LC-39. Originally destined for the scrap yard, the remainder of the LUT was cut into sections, and has instead ended up occupying an overgrown fenced in lot behind the Space Center's industrial area. |
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Hidden underneath the launch pads of LC-39, sit two virtual time
capsules. These "blast rooms" and "rubber rooms" were part of an elaborate
emergency escape system for the Apollo astronauts and closeout and fire-rescue
crews. In the event of an emergency during a launch countdown, team members
could attempt to reach the surface of the mobile launch platform where
they could then jump into a slide tube that would carry them underneath
the massive concrete and earth launch pad. The slide terminated in a padded
"rubber room" which was connected to this domed "blast room" by a massive
steel door.
The floor of the "blast room" was mounted on springs and the team would strap themselves into seats to ride out any explosion that might occur on the pad above their heads. Eventually, the crew could exit the "blast room", via a tunnel that runs to the perimeter of the pad. Following the end of the Apollo Program, the slide tube was capped off and these rooms locked off and almost entirely forgotten. They sit today almost untouched since the end of the Apollo Program. |
