Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site for small launchers and spacecraft. It is located south of

Launch Complex 39A Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V lau ...

and north of

Space Launch Complex 41 Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), sometimes referred to as "Slick Forty-one," is one of two launch sites at the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Originally built as Launch Complex 41 (LC-41), it and ...

. The construction of LC-48 began in November 2019 but was halted in March 2020 due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Construction was resumed in June 2020, with the completion of the first pad in October 2020. LC-48 is designed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date. With another pad constructed, LC-48 could support up to 104 launches per year, though actual usage is expected to be well below that. NASA had previously constructed LC-39C within the bounds of LC-39B with the purpose of serving small launchers, but the operational constraints of sharing the site on a non-interference basis with both the

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Super heavy-lift launch vehicle, super heavy-lift Expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis program, Artemis Moon landing progra ...

and

OmegA Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

(now cancelled) launch vehicles, along with greater interest by commercial parties than originally anticipated, led NASA to pursue the construction of a dedicated launch site for this class of vehicles. As of March 2025, LC-48 has seen no launches, and none are currently planned from the complex.

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