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Space Rocket Launch Sites Around the WorldThere are not many spaceports around the world. Fewer than two dozen have been constructed during the Space Age. Some are well known places open to the public, while others are top secret closed sites. The spaceports dot the globe at locations dictated by political realities and technical requirments for lifting satellites to orbit above Earth. Over the decades since 1957, some 5,000 satellites have been boosted above the atmosphere from these sites. The busiest spaceports are Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg, Baikonur, Plesetsk, Kourou, Tanegashima, Jiuquan, Xichang and Sriharikota. The space programs of the United States and Russia have been comparable in size and by far the world's largest. They were followed in size by the space programs of the ESA, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Belgium and Spain. As we move through the 21st century, competition among these nations is intense and increasing. Australia
Brazil Fort Churchill, Manitoba Latitude 58.759 o N Longitude 265.912 o E The Canadian Space Agency operates the Churchill Rocket Research Range in the northeastern part of the country on Hudson Bay. Jiuquan Space Launch Center - Shuang Cheng Tzu Latitude 40.6 o N Longitude 99.9 o E On April 24, 1970, China became the Fifth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Mao-1. It rode atop a rocket called Long March-1 in a launch from Jiuquan Space Launch Center in Inner Mongolia. Jiuquan Space Launch Center was built north of Jiuquan City in the 1960s in the Gobi desert 1,000 miles west of Beijing, China. It was China's first launch site. Jiuquan was limited to southeastern launches into 57-70 degree orbits to avoid overflying Russia and Mongolia. Western nations had called this site Shuang Cheng Tzu. Long March space rockets and atmospheric sounding rockets are fired from Jiuquan. Jiuquan is used for recoverable Earth observation and microgravity missions. Due to the site's geographical location, most Chinese commercial flights take off from other spaceports. Manned flights are likely to take off from Jiuquan. China Xichang Space Launch Center Latitude 28.25 o N Longitude 102.0 o E Xichang Space Launch Center offers better access to geostationary orbits than Jiuquan. It was built 40 miles north of Xichang City in 1978. Its first launch was in 1984. Xichang launches Long March space rockets. The local population lives near the launch pads. When the first Long March 3B rocket crashed in 1996 on a hillside a mile from the launch pad, six persons were killed and 57 injured. When a Long March 2E exploded in 1995, debris killed six and injured 23 in a village five miles downrange. China Taiyuan Space Launch Center - Wuzhai Latitude 37.5 o N Longitude 112.6 o E Taiyuan Space Launch Center started as test base for missiles and rockets too big to fly from Jiuquan. U.S. Space Command refers to the site as Wuzhai. Its single space launch pad opened in 1988 for launching Long March 4 space rockets ferrying remote sensing, meteorological and reconnaissance satellites to polar orbits. Long March 2C rockets carried Iriidum satellites from there for the U.S. in the 1990s. Latitude 5.2 o N Longitude 52.8 o W On December 24, 1979, European Space Agency became the seventh to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named CAT. It rode atop a rocket called Ariane in a launch from Kourou, French Guiana. Today, the European Space Agency fires space rockets from the Kourou space launch complex known as Centre Spatial Guyanais. CSG is owned by the French national space agency, CNES. It is used by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its commercial space launch arm Arianespace to blast ESA's Ariane rockets to space. CSG is one of the most favorable sites for launches of satellites to geostationary orbit. Kourou's position near the equator offers an advantage over Cape Canaveral for eastbound launches. French Guiana's coastline permits launches into both equatorial and polar Sun-synchronous orbits with inclinations up to 100.5 o . Hundreds of sounding rockets and balloons and space satellites have been launches from Centre Spatial Guyanais. Hammaguir, Algeria, and Kourou, French Guiana Latitude 31.0 o N Longitude 8.0 o W (Hammaguir) Latitude 5.2 o N Longitude 52.8 o W (Kourou) On November 26, 1965, France became the third nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Asterix 1. It rode atop a rocket called Diamant in a launch from Hammaguir, Algeria. Today, France is part of the European Space Agency, which fires space rockets from the Kourou space launch complex known as Centre Spatial Guyanais. CSG is owned by the French national space agency, CNES. It is used by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its commercial space launch arm Arianespace to blast ESA's Ariane rockets to space. Latitude 31.1 o S Longitude 136.8 o E On October 28, 1971, Great Britain became the sixth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Black Knight 1. It rode atop a rocket called Black Arrow in a launch from Woomera, Australia. Latitude 13.9 o N Longitude 80.4 o E On July 18, 1980, India became the eighth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Rohini 1. It rode atop a rocket called SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle) in a launch from Sriharikota Island. Shar Space Launch Center on the Sriharikota Island on India's east coast state of Andhra Pradesh is used by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to launch space satellites on PSLV (Polar SLV) and GSLV (Geostationary SLV) rockets as well as atmospheric sounding Rohini rockets. On December 5, 1989, Iraq became the tenth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was the 3rd stage of a three-stage rocket in a launch from Al-Anbar. Palmachim Air Base in the Negev Desert Latitude 31.5 o N Longitude 34.5 o E On September 19, 1988, Israel became the ninth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Horizon 1 (Ofeq 1). It rode atop a rocket called Shavit in a launch from Israel's Palmachim Air Force Base south of Tel Aviv near the town of Yavne in the Negev Desert. The secret launch site at at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea is visible from the coast highway. San Marco Range off the Kenya coast Latitude 2.9 o S Longitude 40.3 o E Italy's San Marco Range actually is a pair of platforms in Formosa Bay three miles off the coast of Kenya. The San Marco platform is the launch pad. Santa Rita platform holds the firing control blockhouse. The range started firing rockets in 1966. Eight satellites were boosted to space from there by 1976. Italy used the offshore platform for another launch in 1988. Latitude 31.2 o N Longitude 131.1 o E On February 11, 1970, Japan became the fourth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Ohsumi. It rode atop a rocket called Lambda 4S-5 in a launch from Kagoshima. In 1962, Japan started building its Kagoshima Space Center on leveled hilltops facing the Pacific Ocean at Uchinoura on the southern tip of Kyushu Island. It was used first for atmospheric sounding rockets and meteorological rockets, then later for space satellite launches. Japan's first six satellites were launched from Kagoshima. The large M-5 orbital rocket was first launched there in 1997. Hundreds of suborbital and two dozen orbital launches have been made. Japan Tanegashima Island Latitude 30.4 o N Longitude 131.0 o E Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) operates the Tanegashima Space Center orbital launch site on the southeastern tip of Tanegashima Island 650 miles southwest of Tokyo. The complex's northern Osaki Launch Site fires H2 and J1 rockets and has static test facilities for liquid-fuel rocket engines. The southern Takesaki Launch Site fires sounding rockets and carries out static firings of H2 rocket solid-fuel boosters. It has the H2 Range Control Center. Latitude 40.5 o N Longitude 3.5 o W China launched Pakistan's first satellite to orbit in 1990, because Pakistan has no spaceport. However, Pakistan does have a space program. Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome - Volgograd Station Latitude 48.4 o N Longitude 45.8 o E Russia created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR). CIS is composed of twelve of the fifteen former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome was the Soviet Union's first rocket development center. Its first launch was in 1947. During the early years, Kapustin Yar tested captured V2 missiles captured from the germans at the end of World War 2. The site also saw sounding rocket launches in the early years carrying dogs and other animals up to altitudes as high as 300 miles. Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome is known as the Volgograd Station to those who work there. The first orbital launch from Kapustin Yar was Cosmos 1 in 1962. Seventy space launches to orbit were carried out by 1980, mostly small Cosmos science satellites. The USSR switched its space launches to Plesetsk leaving Kapustin Yar to send up only occasional missions, usually for radar calibration. There have been no launches to orbit since 1987. Space launches from Kapustin Yar totaled 83. Today there are some missile testing activities as well as Cosmos suborbital launches. Baikonur Cosmodrome - Tyuratam Latitude 45.6 o N Longitude 63.4 o E On October 4, 1957, the U.S.S.R. became the first nation to loft an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Sputnik 1. It rode atop a rocket called Old Number Seven in a launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Missile and rocket launches began in the 1950s in the Baikonur/Tyuratam area of Kazakhstan in central Asia. The launch pad from which Sputnik 1 and Yuri Gagarin were launched was constructed in 1955. In 1957, the launch site was said to be near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan, about 230 miles southwest of Baikonur. However, the Soviet Union government tried to hide the location by reporting its latitude and longitude as the same as that for the town of Baikonur. Baikonur Cosmodrome actually is located at 45.6 o N and 63.4 o E. Kazakhstan finally renamed the launch site after the closer Tyuratam in 1992. However, the global space community still refers to it as Baikonur Cosmodrome. Baikonur is a large cosmodrome with nine launch complexes encompassing fifteen launch pads. All of Russia's manned space flights and interplanetary probes are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Baikonur is the only cosmodrome launching Proton, Zenit, Energia and Tsyklon SL-11 space rockets. Launches headed due east would be the most efficient, but are not flown from Baikonur because lower stages of the rockets might fall into China. Russia Plesetsk Cosmodrome Latitude 62.8 o N Longitude 40.1 o E In 1957, the first of several pads at Plesetsk Cosmodrome for launches of the old R7 or A-class missiles-rockets were constructed in support of the USSR's then-infant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. The pads and ICBM rockets moved to active duty in 1960. For a long time, Plesetsk Cosmodrome was the world's busiest spaceport. However, it eventually was overtaken by Baikonur as launch campaigns were transferred to newer space boosters at Tyuratam. Today, there are launch pads -- for Cosmos, Soyuz/Molniya Tsyklon and Zenit space boosters. Plesetsk Cosmodrome is located in Russia at 2.8 o N and 40.1 o E, which allows the launch of communications satellites and spy satellites to polar and highly elliptical orbits. Range safety restrictions limit flights from Plesetsk to 62.8 o , 67.1 o , 73-74 o , 82-83 o
Svobodny Cosmodrome Latitude 51.4 o N Longitude 128.3 o E Svobodny is a new cosmodrome created by President Boris Yeltsin in 1996 and built out of a decommissioned missile site at Svobodny-18 about sixty miles from the Chinese border -- for Start, Rockot and Angara space boosters. Latitude 33.56 o S Longitude 18.29 o E The Republic of South Africa has considered using Israel's Shavit space booster to send a satellite to orbit. The South Africans have tested the Israeli Jericho 2 intermediate-range ballistic missile which converts to the Shavit space rocket. South Africa could launch a satellite to space, firing it from the nation's southern area near Cape Town into the sky over either the Atlantic or Indian Ocean. However, the South African government has said it has the science and technology to launch a space satellite, but is not interested because of high costs. Pretoria has kept the pot boiling by setting up a committee to keep abreast of space technology and coordinate development. Latitude 40.5 o N Longitude 3.5 o W Spain conducts space research at Torrejon Air Base. Launches to space are not made from this site. Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida Latitude 28.5 o N Longitude 81.0 o W On January 31, 1958, the United States became the second nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The satellite was named Explorer 1. It rode atop a rocket called Jupiter-C in a launch from Cape Canaveral. Today, Cape Canaveral Air Station at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, is part of the U.S. Space Command 45th Space Wing. Cape Canaveral has active Titan, Atlas and Delta launch complexes. It provides facilities for military, NASA and commercial organizations. More than 500 space launches have been made from the Cape, including NASA's many manned missions. The annual launch rate is about 25 to 30 flights because the Cape was built in the1950s. Currently, Titan rockets are launched from pads 40 an 41, Delta from 17A and 17B, and Atlas Centaur from 36A and 36B. Orbital inclinations range up to to 57 o . Polar launches from Canaveral are not permitted because they would have to fly populated areas. The Cape's Eastern Range tracking network extends all the way into the Indian Ocean where it meets the Western Range network. Spaceport Florida Facility is a commercial launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Station operated by the Spaceport Florida Authority (SFA), a state agency. It converted the Navy's old Launch Complex 46 pad for firing small to medium commercial launch vehicles ferrying satellites to equatorial orbit. The Navy originally used the pad for testing the Trident II fleet ballistic missile. Kennedy Space Center, Merrit Island, Florida Latitude 28.5 o N Longitude 81.0 o W John F. Kennedy Space Center is NASA's site for processing, launching and landing space shuttles and their payloads, including components of the International Space Station. KSC is located on Merrit Island adjacent to the U.S. Air Force launch facilities known as the Cape Canaveral Air Station. Kennedy was built first to support the Apollo lunar landings of the 1960s. After the last Apollo lunar launch in 1972, launch complex 39 supported Skylab space station in 1973-74, then the Apollo-Soyuz Russian-American linkup in space in 1975, and now space shuttles since the late 1970s. Wallops Island, Virginia Latitude 37.8 o N Longitude 75.5 o W Wallops Flight Facility became America's third space launch site in 1961 with the launch of the Explorer 9 balloon on an solid-fuel Scout rocket. Today, WFF is a part of Goddard Space Flight Center. Although the facility is still available, the Scout rocket was retired in 1994. Some 19 rockets have reached orbit from Wallops, most recently in 1985. Today, WFF conducts NASA's sounding rocket program using Super Arcas, Black Brant, Taurus-Tomahawk, Taurus-Orion and Terrier-Malemute rockets. About 30 launches are made annually. An orbital attempt was made in 1995, but the commercial Conestoga rocket failed. Virginia Space Flight Center is a commercial launch facility on the south end of Wallops Island. United States Vandenberg Air Force Base, California Latitude 34.4 o N Longitude 120.35 o W Vandenberg Air Force Base is part of the U.S. Space Command 30th Space Wing. Vandenberg is responsible for missile and space launches on the west coast and operates the Western Range tracking network which extends all the way into the Indian Ocean, where it meets the Eastern Range system. VAFB allows access to polar orbits using launches headed due south. Vandenberg was to have provided a base for space shuttle launches on high inclination missions, but none no shuttles have flown from there. Delta rockets take off from space launch complex 2W, Titan from launch complex 4, and Atlas from launch complex 3. Until 1994, Scout rockets were launched from complex 5. VAFB also launches test flights of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) weapons. California Spaceport is a commercial launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base for launching satellites to polar orbit. United States Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California Latitude 35 o N Longitude 118 o W Dryden Flight Research Center is on the edge of Rodgers Dry Lake at the south end of a high speed flight corridor of the Edwards Air Force Base. The dry lakebed runways and Edward's main runway are used for shuttle landings when weather conditions at Cape Canaveral are unacceptable. Dryden merged in 1981 with NASA's Ames Research Center, but then became independent again in 1994. Dryden has a restricted airspace for research with high performance aircraft. It is involved in the development of the X-33 and X-34 reusable launchers. The Apollo Lunar Landing Research Vehicle and Lifting Body family of vehicles operated at Dryden in the 1960-70s. While shuttles land there, rockets are not launched from Edwards. United States Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska Poker Flat Research Range is a sounding rocket launch facility for auroral and middle to upper atmospheric research. Operated by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PFRR is the world's only university-owned launch range. It is also the only high latitude and auroral zone rocket launch facility in the U.S. United States Alaska Spaceport Latitude 57.5 o N Longitude 153 o W Alaska Spaceport is a commercial launch facility on 3,100 acres of Kodiak Island, Alaska, that can blast satellites to polar orbit. It also provides a backup launch facility for Vandenberg Air Force Base for satellites needing delivery to polar orbit. United States White Sands Space Harbor, Las Cruces, New Mexico White Sands Missile Range is operated by the US Army and was the site of the first major U.S. rocket firings after World War 2 before such activities were moved to the larger range in Florida. It also was the site of the first atomic explosion. White Sands is still a major sounding rocket firing base and supports ballistic missile defense flight testing. White Sands Test Facility is operated by Johnson Space Center for Shuttle propulsion, power system and materials testing. WSTF is also responsible for White Sands Space Harbor (WSSH) which provides the third space shuttle landing site in the U.S. after Florida and Edwards Air Force Base. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas Johnson Space Center was established in 1961 as NASA's center for design, development and testing of manned spacecraft. Today, it manages the space shuttles and the International Space Station. Its work includes administration, flight crew operations, mission operations, engineering, spaceand life sciences, and information systems. JSC conducts shuttle propulsion, power system and materials testing at the White Sands Test Facility in Mew Mexico. Rockets are not launched from Houston. United States Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Established in 1959, Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland is the only national facility able to develop, fabricate, test, launch and analyze data from its own space science missions. Goddard has developed some 200 satellites for NASA and NOAA, including the Explorers, COBE, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Solar Max, ERBS, Spartan and URAS. Hubble Space Telescope science operations are controlled by Goddard's Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Goddard directs NASA's Delta rocket launches and NASA's Spaceflight Tracking & Data Network. Rockets are not launched from Greenbelt. United States Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a government-owned facility operated under contract since 1959 by California Institute of Technology for NASA. JPL has conducted most of NASA's deep space missions, including Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, Mars Surveyor and Mars Pathfinder. It manages NASA's portion of the European-American solar probe Ulysses, the US-French Topex/Poseidon oceanographic satellite, the Spaceborne Imaging Radar and the Wide Field/Planetary Camera in the Hubble Space Telescope. JPL built and operates NASA's worldwide Deep Space Network linking controllers via antennas near Canberra, Australia; Goldstone, California and Madrid, Spain with spacecraft beyond millions of miles from Earth. Rockets are not launched from Pasadena. United States Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama Marshall Space Flight Center was established in 1960 by the team headed by Dr Wernher von Braun, which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1. Marshall managed NASA's Apollo Saturn launchers and the Skylab space station. Today, MSFC is one of the largest of NASA's ten field centers. Marshall is the principal propulsion development center, responsible for space shuttle main engines, solid boosters and external tank. MSFC is home to NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle program and it has a key role in the International Space Station, including the pressurized modules and research nodes. Marshall programs include Spacelab, the AXAF x-ray telescope in space, the tethered satellite system and inertial upper stage, and Mission to Planet Earth. Rockets are not launched from Huntsville. United States Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California Founded in 1939 as an aircraft research lab, Ames Research Center became part of NASA in 1958. The lab conducts research in aerodynamics, hypersonic aircraft, human factors, life sciences, Earth environment, space science, solar system exploration and infrared astronomy. Ames manages the faraway probes Pioneer 10 and 11. It was responsible for Galileo's Jupiter atmosphere-entry probe. Ames housed NASA's SETI program. Rockets are not launched from Moffet Field. United States Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia Langley Research Center was established in 1917 and became one of the original NASA facilities when the space agency was created in 1958. The U.S. manned space program began at LaRC in 1959 before new facilities were built in Houston in 1962. LaRC was responsible for the highly successful Lunar Orbiters and Viking Mars orbiters and landers. Today, Langley is an advanced aerospace research center. Its fields of study include aerodynamics, materials, structures, flight controls, information systems, acoustics, aeroelasticity, and atmospheric sciences. Nearly half of Langley's work is about space, including technology for advanced space transportation, large space structures and the Earth Observing System in NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. Rockets are not launched from Hampton United States Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio Founded in 1941, Lewis Research Center is NASA's main center for research, technology and development of aircraft propulsion, space propulsion, space power and satellite communications. LeRC oversees the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite through its master control station. Lewis handles propulsion technology development for NASA's High Speed Research Program. The Microgravity Materials Science Laboratory for space experiments is at Lewis. NASA's Atlas and Centaur launch activities are managed by LeRC. Rockets are not launched from Cleveland. United States Stennis Space Center, Mississippi Stennis Space Center was chosen in 1961 to test Apollo moon rocket F1 and J2 engines and Saturn V stages. Today, it is NASA's large propulsion test facility. All space shuttle main engines are tested at Stennis before flight. SSC leads NASA's commercialization of remote sensing technology. Eighteen other federal and state agencies also are on the site, including the Naval Meteorology & Oceanographic Command. Rockets are not launched from Stennis. United States Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland Founded in 1942, the Applied Physics Laboratory is an independent non-profit R&D division of Johns Hopkins University. APL develops, constructs and operates satellites. It has built more than sixty satellites. It has also provided scores of instruments for space satellites. It contracts with the US Navy's Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command for DoD programs and other federal projects. Rockets are not launched from Laurel. United States Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Dating back to 1943, Los Alamos National Laboratory is a research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy. LANL conducts research in basic science, nuclear and non-nuclear defense programs, nuclear safeguards and security, biomedical, computational and materials sciences, and environmental cleanup. The first director of Los Alamos was J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped found the Lab to develop the first atomic weapons. Los Alamos monitors outer space for nuclear explosions. The Commercial Spaceport Business Into the mid 1980s, the United States dominated the space launch industry with almost 100 percent of the business. However, the American decision to drop investment in expendable launch vehicle (ELV) technology in favor of space shuttles left the U.S. with a smaller portion of the commercial launch market. From the mid-1980s, the European Space Agency (ESA) gained a major proportion of the world's commercial launch business. Today, the Europeans control about 60 percent of the market and the Americans about 30 percent. Other countries such as China, Japan, India, Brazil, Italy and Israel aim for the rest with low cost launch services. Commercial launches range from $10 million for a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite up to $80 million for high altitude satellites. United States Planned commercial spaceports in the United States Around the world, the business of space is a $100 billion-a-year industry, including a great deal of money spent on rockets to launch satellites for weather forecasting, navigation, television broadcasting and telecommunications including global Internet and cell phone service. The space launch industry grows at the rate of 20 percent a year. As a result, not just governments, but commercial firms want to build launch pads to grab a share of the market.
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