Eastern Launch Facilities, Kennedy Space Center

Abstract

Abstract The Eastern Test Range (ETR) is the familiar designation of a group of bases, facilities, and installations that support space vehicle launches from Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and ballistic missile test launches from or near the Cape Canaveral Air Station. It is operated by the United States Air Force's 45th Space Wing, which provides services to itself as a launch agency as well as to the other Government and private agencies that use the launch bases at Cape Canaveral and KSC. The ETR, or “The Range” as it is often called, extends from the Atlantic Coast of central Florida, including the well‐known Cape Canaveral launch base and its Headquarters about 20 miles south at Patrick Air Force Base, southeast along the Bahamas, the West Indies, and on to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Recently, bases in Bermuda and Newfoundland have been added to support launches that have more northerly azimuths. This article gives details on the Eastern Range facilities: the missile assembly buildings, propellant storage, control center, skid skip, tracking stations, range support, safety, and instrumentation. The Kennedy Space Center and the various missions launched from the center are discussed. Apollo operations, Skylab, Space Shuttle, Apollo‐Soyuz Test Program, and the International Space Station are detailed. The article concludes with NASA's requirements to keep the public informed of its activities and the ways NASA accommodates visitors to the Space Center.