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Launch site | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station | ||||||||
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Location | 28°27′09″N 80°33′22″W / 28.45250°N 80.55611°W | ||||||||
Time zone | UTC−05:00 (EST) | ||||||||
• Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) | ||||||||
Short name | LC-31 | ||||||||
Operator | United States Space Force | ||||||||
Launch pad(s) | 2 (incl. silo) | ||||||||
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Launch Complex 31 (LC-31) is a former launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
It was built in 1959 with LC-32 for the U.S. Air Force to conduct test launches of the first LGM-30 Minuteman missiles. LC-31 was built next to Navaho complex LC-9, requiring LC-10 to be demolished. These complexes were the first to feature dual launch pads, one of which was subterranean. LC-31 consisted of a blockhouse, static launch pad (31A) and missile silo (31B). The beehive-shaped blockhouse is 210 yards from the static pad and 330 yards from the silo.
Between February 1, 1960 and September 23, 1969 the Air Force launched a total of four Minuteman missiles from pad 31A and 35 from silo 31B. Pad 31A was used later by the U.S. Army to test launch twelve Pershing 1a missiles.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/ChallengerRemains.jpg/220px-ChallengerRemains.jpg)
The service tower has since been removed; the silo remains, and contains recovered debris from the Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle Challenger.[1][2]
2015 opening of the silo
[edit]In 2015, NASA opened the silo and removed several pieces of Challenger's debris, so they could be placed on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Shuttle Debris Moved for Burial". Los Angeles Times. Jan 8, 1987. Retrieved 2009-05-20.[dead link]
- ^ Ritter, Jim (1986-11-30). "Challenger debris to be buried". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ "Space shuttle Challenger, Columbia wreckage on display for 1st time".