Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
Launch Complex 36 (LC-36)—formerly known as Space Launch Complex 36 (SLC-36) from 1997 to 2010—is a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Brevard County, Florida. It was used for Atlas launches by NASA and the U.S. Air Force from 1962 until 2005.
An Atlas-Centaur at LC-36 prior to the launch of Pioneer 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch site | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coordinates | 28°28′14″N 80°32′24″W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Short name | LC-36 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Total launches | 145 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch pad(s) | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Orbital inclination range | 28° - 57° | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Blue Origin has leased the launch site since 2015 in order to build a new launch site for launching the company's orbital rockets. Orbital launches are expected to begin from LC-36 no earlier than 2024, and the first launch vehicle slated to launch there is New Glenn, under development by Blue Origin since 2012.
Historically, the complex consisted of two launch pads, SLC-36A and SLC-36B, and was the launch site for the Pioneer, Surveyor, and Mariner probes in the 1960s and 1970s. There were a total of 145 launches from LC-36 during the period that the US government operated the launch complex in the first five decades of spaceflight. The Atlas rockets launched from Complex 36 were subsequently superseded by the Atlas V launch vehicle, which, as of September 2023, launches from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral since beginning in 2002.