Launch Complex 16
Titan I launch from LC-16
Launch siteCape Canaveral Space Force Station
Location28°30′06″N 80°33′06″W / 28.5017°N 80.5518°W / 28.5017; -80.5518
Short nameLC-16
OperatorUS Space Force
Total launches142
Launch pad(s)One
Launch history
StatusActive
First launchDecember 12, 1959
Titan I / RVX-3
Last launchMarch 23, 2023
Terran 1 / Good Luck, Have Fun
Associated
rockets		Titan I
Titan II
Pershing 1/Pershing 1a
Pershing II
Terran 1
Terran R (future)

Launch Complex 16 (LC-16) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida is a launch complex built for use by LGM-25 Titan missiles, and later used for NASA operations before being transferred back to the US military and used for tests of MGM-31 Pershing missiles. Six Titan I missiles were launched from the complex between December 1959 and May 1960. These were followed by seven Titan II missiles, starting with the type's maiden flight on March 16, 1962. The last Titan II launch from LC-16 was conducted on May 29, 1963.

Following the end of its involvement with the Titan missile, LC-16 was transferred to NASA, which used it for Gemini crew processing, and static firing tests of the Apollo Service Module's propulsion engine. Following its return to the US Air Force in 1972, it was converted for use by the Pershing missile, which made its first flight from the complex on May 7, 1974. Seventy-nine Pershing 1a and 49 Pershing II missiles were launched from LC-16. The last Pershing launch from the facility was conducted on March 21, 1988. It was deactivated the next day and subsequently decommissioned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

It was announced on January 17, 2019, that Relativity Space had entered a 5-year agreement to use LC-16 for its Terran 1 orbital launch vehicle and eventually its Terran R.[1][2] The maiden flight of the Terran 1 launch vehicle took place on 23 March 2023 and resulted in a failure.[3] The maiden flight of Terran 1 was the first orbital launch attempt from Launch Complex 16 (141 suborbital launches before the Terran 1).[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sheetz, Michael (January 17, 2019). "3D printer Relativity Space gets Air Force contract for Florida launch pad". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  2. ↑ Burghardt, Thomas (June 8, 2021). "Relativity Space reveals fully reusable medium lift launch vehicle Terran R". www.nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  3. ↑ Iemole, Anthony (March 23, 2023). "Relativity overachieves Terran 1 debut objectives". NASASpaceFlight. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  4. ↑ Baylor, Michael. "Terran-1 - Good Luck, Have Fun". Next Spaceflight. Retrieved January 20, 2023.


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