The first Falcon 9 rocket arrived at SLC-40 in late 2008, and was first erected on January 10, 2009. Renovations included installation of new liquid oxygen and kerosene tanks and construction of a hangar for rocket and payload preparation. During April 2008, construction started on the ground facilities necessary to support the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. In 2007, the US Air Force leased Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 to SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 rocket. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Falcon 9, Flight 3, above SpaceX Cape Canaveral launch complex, May 2012 SpaceX has indicated that they see a niche for each of the four orbital facilities currently in use or under construction, and that they have sufficient launch business to fill each pad, particularly so by the end of the decade if SpaceX business remains strong. A high-altitude suborbital test facility was under construction in New Mexico, but was abandoned following the switch to flight tests on commercial missions. In addition, SpaceX uses a suborbital test facility, the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas. A new building nearby is also planned, and these facilities would be used to refurbish rockets. In 2016, SpaceX signed a five-year lease to use a 53,000 square foot (4,900 m 2) former Spacehab building at Port Canaveral. SpaceX have indicated that, depending on market demand, they may actually need another commercial launch site in addition to the Texas location. ĬOO Gwynne Shotwell stated in 2014 that "we are expanding in all of our locations" and "you will end up seeing a lot of SpaceX launch sites in order to meet the future demand that we anticipate." As of June 2016, SpaceX discussed preliminary plans to launch an average of 90 rockets per year after 2019. SpaceX believes that they can optimize their launch operations, and reduce launch costs, by dividing their launch missions amongst these four launch facilities: LC-39A for NASA launches, SLC-40 for United States Space Force national security launches, SLC-4E for polar launches, and South Texas Launch Site for commercial launches. Space Launch Complex 40 was damaged in the AMOS-6 accident in September 2016 and repair work was completed by December 2017.
Launch facilities used by SpaceX The Falcon 9 launch complex at Cape Canaveral, FloridaĪs of 2023, SpaceX operates four launch facilities: Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Vandenberg Space Force Base Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E), Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), and Brownsville South Texas Launch Site (Starbase).
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