Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 10
Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 10 (LC -10) was a launch pad of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Merritt Iceland, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. It was originally built in the mid -1950s, together with LC -9 to the development of the Navaho cruise missile. It was used 1957-1959 for launches of sounding rockets Alpha Draco, and Jason.
History
Launch Complex 10 was built in 1956 by the U.S. Air Force for test launch of the experimental cruise missile Navaho. The program, launched in 1946 should provide the feasibility of an intercontinental missile test. After Launch Complex 10 was on June 29, 1956 officially recognized by the U.S. Air Force, took place on 12 August 1957, the first launch of a Navaho. The cruise missile fell after liftoff but off course and struck later in the Atlantic. In the period following the starting system was only used for exercises for handling the rocket before the Navaho program was discontinued because of persistent shifts in 1958.
After the end of the Navaho project of the sounding rocket was Jason LC-10 for takeoffs upgraded. The five-stage rocket could reach heights of up to 800 miles and had been developed for surgery Argus, were detonated at the three nuclear bombs at high altitude, in order to investigate the effects of the detonations on the electromagnetic field of the Earth. A total of six 1958 Jason rockets launched successfully in August and September from the complex.
Then start system in 1959 was used for three starts of sounding rocket Alpha Draco. Developed by McDonnell Alpha Draco consisted of two solid rocket boosters and an unpowered re-entry, which should be brought to an altitude of 30 km. Then the entry body should separate from the rocket and hit about 400 km from the launch site in the Atlantic. The concept was tested in early 1959 with three starts from Launch Complex 10; The last launch took place on 27 April 1959.
The launch pad was way off on it and 1959 largely demolished to make room for new launch pads of the Minuteman ICBM.
The complex
Launch Complex 10 was externally identical to the adjacent Launch Complex 9, who was also assigned to the Navaho program. The start of the Navaho missile were monitored from an adjacent bunker, the log house, which now serves as a storage room. From there, the launch pad could be observed through a periscope or angled mirror.