LC-39A (Falcon)

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Historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is a launch site situated within the Kennedy Space Centre, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Originally, LC-39A was constructed by NASA to support Saturn V missions to the Moon; all seven lunar landing missions were launched from LC-39A. Following the retirement of the Saturn V, NASA retained LC-39A for the upcoming Space Shuttle. Over its 30 year life, 80 of 135 Space Shuttle missions were conducted from LC-39A with the remaining from neighbouring LC-39B. After the Space Shuttle was retired, NASA looked to lease the pad to commercial providers and in 2014, SpaceX signed a 20 year lease agreement for LC-39A. Since January 2017, LC-39A has been used to support Falcon 9 launches. All Falcon Heavy launches thus far have also launched from LC-39A since the first in February 2018. Upon winning NASA’s Commercial Crew contract, SpaceX modified existing infrastructure from the Shuttle era to support crewed launches. LC-39A is the primary launch site for Dragon missions today, however, since 2024, these are now also possible from nearby SLC-40. SpaceX are in the process of developing a second launch pad within the same site for future operational launches of the Starship Super Heavy vehicle.