Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41
Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 41 (LC -41) is an active launch pad for the U.S. Air Force and is part of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida (USA).
From here started the U.S. Air Force Titan III - C, Titan IV rocket and the Seven Titan III E / Centaur rocket from NASA. Today is the launch pad for a major renovation, the only launch site for the Atlas V, Cape Canaveral.
History
Originally LC -41 assembled with Complex 40 as the launch site for the Titan IIIC. After the construction began in 1963 on 21 December 1965, the OV2 satellite of the U.S. Air Force. Although the start was successful, failed the advanced level and brought the satellite into the wrong orbit.
In the following years, a few more military Titan III -C - starts, because LC 41 was modified for the start of TitanIII-E/Centaur rockets NASA and installed systems for cryogenic propellants ( liquid hydrogen and oxygen), the Centaur upper stage.
The first launch of a Titan-IIIE/Centaur failed because the Centaur in flight did not ignite; the other six starts this type go, however.
The first successful launch of an Titan-IIIE/Centaur from grid position 41 brought on 10 December 1974, the solar probe Helios 1 into space.
Then with Titan-IIIE/Centaur-Raketen followed the successful Viking Lander NASA, the August 20 and September 9, 1975 and took off and a year later landed on Mars.
On January 15, 1976 launched from Complex 41 Helios 2, which came within 43.5 million kilometers of the sun, as close as any other spacecraft previously until today ( 2009).
1977 began here Voyager 1 and 2 their travel to the outer planets. This started on August 20 and September 5, 1977 aboard a Titan IIIE - Centaur.
After 17 Titan III flights you undertook for the remainder of the year initially no more flights. Between 1986 and 1988, the ramp for the Titan IV was rebuilt as part of a $ 57 million expensive project. With the lifting of the new Titan on 14 June 1989, the decade of this new Titan began, the last two launches of this type rockets fell through.
As of 1999, the ramp changed for the second time her face. The ramp is no longer needed has been completely remodeled, so that a new launch site was created for the new Atlas V. On 21 August 2002, the first Atlas V launched from LC 41 Among the other Atlas V flights was also, in 2006, New Horizons - the first probe to investigate the Pluto. New Horizons was added from its Atlas V ( 551 ) s accelerated to the speed of 16.21 km /. Faster than any other spacecraft before.
The complex
The launch pad was up to the tag for the Atlas V practically a copy of the Launch Complex 40 The rocket was assembled in the Vertical Integration Building (VIB) for the most part, down to the launch pad and prepared with the help of a huge service Towers for the launch.
During the reconstruction for the Atlas V changed much: the starting system was blown up. Only the foundation, the exhaust shafts and the four arranged around the launch pad lightning rod remained. While almost every launch pad from a distance and is visible through a large lattice structure can be found today at LC -41, except for the lightning rod system, only the concrete table and another flat equipment. Be set up so the Atlas V rocket in the Vertical Integration Facility, 550 meters away (VIF not to be confused with the old Vertical Integration Building ). The prepared rocket parts come from the Space Flight Operations Center ( ASOC ). This building is located about 6.5 kilometers from the complex and was used earlier for the Titan IV rocket. If the missile in VIF fully assembled, it can be driven with a small, mobile tower to the launch pad. However, this takes only a few hours before the start. In LC - 41 itself, the rocket will simply not refueled.