Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 32
Encyclopedia
Launch Complex 32 is a former launch complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
, Florida
.
It was built in 1959 with LC-31 for the U.S. Air Force to comduct test launches of the first LGM-30 Minuteman
missiles. These complexes were the first to feature dual launch pads, one of which was subterranean. LC 32 consisted of a blockhouse, static launch pad (32A) and missile silo (32B). The bee-hive-shaped blockhouse is 210 yards from the static pad and 330 yards from the silo.
The Air Force launched 53 ballistic missiles from the silo of LC-32B between August 30, 1961 and December 14, 1970. There are no records of any launches from the LC-32A launch pad.
The service tower has since been removed and silo filled in, although recovered debris from the space shuttle orbiter Challenger
were buried in the silo as well as in the silo at Pad 31.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in the state of Florida, CCAFS is the primary launch head of America's Eastern Range with four launch pads...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
It was built in 1959 with LC-31 for the U.S. Air Force to comduct test launches of the first LGM-30 Minuteman
LGM-30 Minuteman
The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2010, the version LGM-30G Minuteman-III is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States...
missiles. These complexes were the first to feature dual launch pads, one of which was subterranean. LC 32 consisted of a blockhouse, static launch pad (32A) and missile silo (32B). The bee-hive-shaped blockhouse is 210 yards from the static pad and 330 yards from the silo.
The Air Force launched 53 ballistic missiles from the silo of LC-32B between August 30, 1961 and December 14, 1970. There are no records of any launches from the LC-32A launch pad.
The service tower has since been removed and silo filled in, although recovered debris from the space shuttle orbiter Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
were buried in the silo as well as in the silo at Pad 31.