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Launch Complex 15 (LC-15) is an inactive
launch pad A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term ''launch pad'' can be used to describe just the central launch platform (mobile launcher platform), or the entire c ...
located at
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...
in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. One of the eight pads that comprises
Missile Row "Missile Row" was a nickname given in the 1960s to the eight SM-65 Atlas and HGM-25A Titan I launch complexes at the middle area of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, historically used by the United States Air Force and NASA, namely LC-11 to ...
, it was originally built for and used by
ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
tests for the
HGM-25A Titan I The Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I was the United States' first multistage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in use from 1959 until 1962. Though the SM-68A was operational for only three years, it spawned numerous follow-on mode ...
and
LGM-25C Titan II The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier HGM-25A Titan I, Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a Med ...
programs throughout the early 1960s. Additionally, it was leased out to
ABL Space Systems Long Wall (formerly ABL Space Systems) is an American aerospace company, based in Long Beach, California (originally from El Segundo, California), that manufactures deployable launch vehicles and infrastructure for missile defense, formerly for ...
in order to support launches of their RS1 rocket. Following ABL's shift away from
private spaceflight Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pionee ...
and renaming to Long Wall, the current status of LC-15 is not known.


History

Launch Complex 15 originally broke ground in 1957, as part of an expansion by the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
to
Missile Row "Missile Row" was a nickname given in the 1960s to the eight SM-65 Atlas and HGM-25A Titan I launch complexes at the middle area of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, historically used by the United States Air Force and NASA, namely LC-11 to ...
, which would give it the ability to launch the
HGM-25A Titan I The Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I was the United States' first multistage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in use from 1959 until 1962. Though the SM-68A was operational for only three years, it spawned numerous follow-on mode ...
alongside the four existing
SM-65 Atlas The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General ...
pads. LC-15 was built as the southernmost of the four Titan pads of the subsection, joined by LC-16,
LC-19 Launch Complex 19 (LC-19) is a deactivated launch site on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. One of the eight pads considered part of Missile Row, it is most famous for being used as part of Project Gemini, being the launch site of all ...
, and LC-20 to the north. The pad's construction saw its completion in summer 1958, and hosted its inaugural launch with the Titan I's maiden flight on February 6, 1959. In this initial configuration, LC-15 hosted ten Titan I launches, all of them successful and being used for testing reentry vehicles as well as the missile itself. Following the last of the Titan I launches in September 1960, LC-15 underwent conversion to support the Titan I's successor, the
LGM-25C Titan II The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier HGM-25A Titan I, Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a Med ...
. Among the changes made was the replacing of fueling from the
RP-1 RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) and similar fuels like RG-1 and T-1 are highly refined kerosene formulations used as rocket fuel. Liquid-fueled rockets that use RP-1 as fuel are known as kerolox rockets. In their engines, RP- ...
and
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
used by the Titan I to the hypergolic propellants used by the Titan II. The first of these launches in this new configuration was made on June 7, 1962, and the pad subsequently saw a total of 16 suborbital launches throughout the following three years. One noteworthy launch from LC-15 during this era was on February 6, 1963, which featured the first all-Air Force-personnel launch of a Titan rocket, as well as being the heaviest payload ever to fly on a missile from the
Eastern Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major List of rocket launch sites, launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center ( ...
. The final Titan II launch to occur from the pad was conducted on April 9, 1964; following this, LC-15 remained semi-active until its official decommissioning in March 1967, with structures such as the blockhouse being used as office space by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
. Later in the year, the pad was dismantled and the
launch tower A service structure is a permanent steel framework or tower erected on a rocket launch pad that allows assembly, servicing, and crew onboarding of the launch vehicle prior to liftoff. In NASA launches at the Kennedy Space Center, astronauts e ...
was sold for scraps. For the next 50 years, LC-15 remained untouched and was abandoned in place. Structures such as the launch table and ramp remained standing, as did the blockhouse until it was demolished in 2012. On March 7, 2023, the
United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...
leased the pad to
ABL Space Systems Long Wall (formerly ABL Space Systems) is an American aerospace company, based in Long Beach, California (originally from El Segundo, California), that manufactures deployable launch vehicles and infrastructure for missile defense, formerly for ...
as part of a reactivation campaign made in the wake of the
NewSpace Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pione ...
boom of the 2010s, with the official announcement being made alongside the leasing of Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) to
Stoke Space Stoke Space Technologies is an American Private spaceflight, space launch company based in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington. History The company was founded by a group of former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees. In May 2020, the company w ...
and
Launch Complex 13 Launch Complex 13 (LC-13), located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, was the third-most southerly of the original launch complex, launch complexes known as Missile Row, lying between Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex ...
(LC-13) to Phantom Space and
Vaya Space Vaya Space is a space and defense company, founded in 2017 as Rocket Crafters, based in Cocoa, Florida. It develops and manufactures orbital launch vehicles and vortex-hybrid rocket engines. In 2022, the company won the International Green Apple En ...
. The same day, ABL announced that they planned to use LC-15 for the RS1 rocket, which was at the time being launched from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
's
Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...
. As the pad at the time of leasing was a brownfield for the past half-century, they also clarified that the rocket would temporarily make launches from Space Launch Complex 46 (SLC-46) while the LC-15 infrastructure was being built. In October 2024, following the accidental destruction of an RS1 to be used in the second flight, ABL announced that they would be leaving the commercial launch market in favor of perusing missile defense. This was made official the next year, when they rebranded themselves as Long Wall, announcing that they will convert the RS1 into a target missile named the RSX. It remains unknown what is to become of LC-15 as part of this change; although official Space Force documents continue to reference the pad as being leased by ABL, the limited pad availability at
Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...
may entail that
Space Launch Delta 45 The Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45) is a unit of the United States Space Force. The Space Launch Delta 45 is assigned to Space Systems Command and headquartered at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. The wing also controls Cape Canaveral Space Fo ...
is willing to lease it to another launch company.


Launch statistics


References

{{Merritt Island Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch complexes of the United States Space Force