Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A

This article is about the Pad 39A Florida landing zones. For the other landing zones, see SpaceX landing zone.

Launch Complex 39A

The pad in January 2024 during the launch of Axiom Mission 3 with the SpaceX Starship launch tower in the background
Interactive map of Launch Complex 39A
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center
Location	Merritt Island, Florida
Coordinates	28°36′30″N 80°36′16″W
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Short name	LC-39A
Established	1962 (1962)
Operator	NASA (owner) SpaceX (tenant)
Launch pad	2, plus 2 landing sites
Orbital inclination range	28.5–55, 66–145°
Pad 39A (main) launch history Status Active Launches 221 First launch November 9, 1967 Saturn V (Apollo 4) Last launch August 30, 2026 Falcon Heavy (Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope) Associated rockets Current: Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy Retired: Saturn V, Space Shuttle Plans cancelled: Ares V OLP-x launch history Status Under Construction Associated rockets Future: Starship LZ-x landing history Status Planned Associated rockets Future: Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy LZ-x landing history Status Planned Associated rockets Future: Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy
Launch Complex 39--Pad A
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location within Florida Location within the United States
Area	160 acres (65 ha)
Built	1964–1968
MPS	John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS
NRHP reference No.	99001638
Added to NRHP	January 21, 2000

Launch sites at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center

4km
2.5miles

28

28

27

27

26

26

25

25

24

24

23

23

22

22

21

20

20

19

19 SLC-46
(Various)

18

18

17

17 LC-36
(New Glenn)

16

16

15

15

14

14 LC-13
(F9 & FH
landings)

13

13

12

12

11

11

10

10

9

8

7

6

5

5 SLC-40 (Falcon 9)

4

4 SLC-41
(Vulcan, Atlas)

3

2

2 LC-39A (F9, FH)

1

1 LC-39B (SLS)

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  Active pads

  Inactive leased pads

  Inactive unleased pads

  Repurposed pads, not used for launches

1

LC-39B

2

LC-39A

3

LC-48

4

SLC-41

5

SLC-40

6

LC-47

7

SLC-37

8

LC-34

9

SLC-20

10

LC-19

11

LC-16

12

LC-15

13

LC-14

14

LC-13 (LZ-2)

15

LC-12

16

LC-11

17

LC-36

18

LC-1, LC-2, LC-3, and LC-4

19

SLC-46

20

LC-21 and LC-22

21

LC-31 and LC-32

22

LC-18

23

SLC-17

24

LC-26

25

LC-5 and LC-6

26

LC-30

27

LC-25

28

LC-29

Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch sub-complexes, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The main launch pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V launch vehicle, and has been used to support NASA crewed space flight missions, including the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and the Space Shuttle. Since 2014 the site has been leased by SpaceX and supports launches of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. As of November 2025, SpaceX is expanding the site to support Starship operations. Other plans include adding two landing zones for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets to conduct "Return-to-launch-site" landings.