Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 47 Explained

Launch Complex 47
Site:Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Short:LC-47
Operator:United States Space Force
NASA
Utc Offset:−05:00
Time Zone:EST
Utc Offset Dst:−04:00
Time Zone Dst:EDT
Tlaunches:531[1]
Pads:1
Paddetails:
Status:Active[2]
First Launch:12 March 1984
Last Launch:22 September 2008

Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 47 (Launch Complex 47, LC-47) is a launch pad for sounding rockets located at the north end of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It is the smallest launch complex at the Space Force Station. The complex features a small blockhouse a few yards from the pad, containing vehicle-specific hardware. Between 1984 and 2008, 531 sounding rockets were launched from pad 47. All weather rocket operations were relocated here from Launch Complex 43 in 1984 in order to make room for the construction of Launch Complex 46.

The first launch at LC-47 occurred on March 12, 1984, with the flight of a Rocketsonde sounding rocket that reached an apogee of 63km. On October 14, 1991, a student sub-orbital launch on a Super Loki rocket occurred here. As of October 2017, the most recent launch from LC-47 was a Super Loki rocket that reached an apogee of 50km on September 22, 2008.

While originally slated for deactivation, on November 4, 2004, the 45th Space Wing transferred LC-47 to the Florida Space Authority under the Commercial Space Transportation Act allowing continued operations.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wade. Mark. Cape Canaveral LC47. https://web.archive.org/web/20161221091534/http://www.astronautix.com/c/capecanaverallc47.html. dead. December 21, 2016. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 22 October 2017.
  2. Web site: Lethbridge. Cliff. LAUNCH COMPLEX 47 FACT SHEET. Spaceline. 22 October 2017.
  3. Web site: Mehuron. Tamar. 2004 Space Almanac. Air Force Magazine. 23 April 2018.