Pad 39A moves from NASA
to commercial providers
After the Shuttle program ended, NASA turned its attention
to its next vehicle, the Space Launch System. A new rocket,
derived from the Shuttle legacy which would launch humans
beyond Earth orbit for the first time in over 40 years. This new
vehicle would, like the Saturn V, bring all its support equip-
ment with it to the pad, so the pad would once again be a
clean pad. Work on Pad 39B to return it to a clean pad be-
gan even before the Shuttle program had ended. With a low
flight rate, and a full Mobile Launcher being used to launch
the new rocket, NASA determined in December of 2013 that
it would only use Pad 39B, and the decision to lease Pad 39A
to one of the commercial providers was made.
SpaceX was awarded the use of the iconic launch pad
and signed a 20 year lease in April of 2014. Since that time
SpaceX has already began modifications to the pad area
including the construction of a new Horizontal Integration
Facility where processing of their boosters and some pay-
load integration will occur. SpaceX is looking at also doing
payload integration vertically now as that is a requirement
of getting contracts with the U.S. Air Force for launches. The
new building is located alongside the crawlerway just before
the incline to the hard stand.
The Flame Trench has been modified to accommodate
Falcon 9 launches as well. The south side of the Flame Trench
was completely filled in; all exhaust from the Falcon 9 launch-
es will be directed out the north end of the trench via the
Flame Deflector. That side has been resurfaced with refrac-
tory concrete to withstand the intense heat of launches.
The Fixed Service Structure from the Space Shuttle Program
will be left in place for now. Modifications to accommodate
crewed missions and access to the Dragon capsule will be
made in the future. The Crew Access Arm from the Shuttle
era was removed by NASA, presumably to be preserved for
a museum or space facility to display.
New kerosene storage tanks have already been installed
on the