Cape Canaveral Space Force Station – 3D Historic Launch Complexes
Browse the 3D Collections for the Cape Canaveral Space History Collection below.
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Launch Complex 14 Ramp and Stamp
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Launch Complex 14 (BR2209), is an Historical District and National Historical Landmark. Shown here is a model of the ramp stand area at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, documented with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) survey that included the capture of the Blockhouse, ramp, stand, pad and surrounding environs and related structures. Launch Complex 14 was built between 1956 and 1957, and was most famously associated with the 1959 and 1960 manned Mercury missions.
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Launch Complex 19 Decontamination
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
During the Gemini-Titan II launches, a new type of fuel was used that required propulsion personnel to wear hazardous protection equipment. Hypergolic fuel, a liquid propellant, is highly toxic, and is handled under the most stringent safety conditions. This building was constructed to provide storage for the hazardous protective clothing needed by workers. See also: https://vimeo.com/173126179
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Launch Complex 19 Ramp and Stand
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
BR2264- Launch Complex 19 Launch Stand, Ramp. This historic launch complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, is unique in character. The complex is a deactivated launch site used by NASA to launch all of the Gemini manned spaceflights. It was also used by unmanned Titan I and Titan II missiles and was in use during the years from 1959 to 1966. A total of 27 launches, 10 of which were manned, were made from the site. It was last used for the Gemini XII launch, on November 11, 1966. Terrestrial Laser Scanning with the FARO Focus x330, photogrammetry and GPS survey. See also: https://vimeo.com/173126179
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Launch Complex 19 Theodolite Building
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 19 Theodolite Building (BR2268). This building is one of two theodolite structures that were used for alignment and tracking of the missile before and during flight at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 19. This facility was used for the Titan ICBM testing and Gemini launch programs. Today, there are no longer any instrumentation in the building. Laser scanning, photogrammetry, and GPS survey were performed to record the structure and assess and monitor condition. See the model animation here: https://vimeo.com/173124996
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Launch Complex 19 White Room
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
The White Room- on display today at the Rocket Garden exhibition at the LC26 Air Force Space& Missile Museum - once sat atop the erector for the Gemini-Titan Launch Vehicle. The White Room was functioned as an environmentally controlled room where the spacecraft was readied. The background image used for our model is courtesy of NASA and shows Gemini IXA astronauts Eugene Cernan, left, and Tom Stafford, center, arriving in the white room atop Launch Pad 19 at Cape Canaveral on June 3, 1966. Our terrestrial laser scanning survey point cloud data was used to create the model, which has a faux back and top shape added to complete the laser scan survey areas. The white room scans were part of a 3D documentation of the LC26 site, including the Rocket Garden and extant landscape features.
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Launch Complex 21-22
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Launch Complex 21-22 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station- constructed in 1956. The blockhouse featured 12” thick reinforced concrete walls with chamfered corners and a virtually flat reinforced concrete roof slab. Two different missiles were test fired from Complex 21/22: the Bull Goose and the Mace. The Mace program followed after the set of twenty Bull Goose launches which began at Complex 22 on March 13, 1957. The Mace made forty-four flights from Complexes 21 and 22 between October 29, 1959 and July 17, 1963.
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Launch Complex 21-22 Blockhouse
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Blockhouse for Launch Complex 21-22, a dual pad site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Construction began in 1956 of the complex, with the blockhouse finished in 1958. The site was designed to handle Goose-Bull Goose, Mace A, and Mace B missiles. The site was deactivated in the early 1970s, and through the history of the complex, the blockhouse served as a storage building for the Delta program equipment and later as a storage/armory for the U.S. Coast Guard. Ideal CAD model derived from measurements from terrestrial laser scanning survey.
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Launch Complex 26 Pointcloud
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
The Digital Heritage and Humanities Collections are using terrestrial LiDAR to document historic launch complexes at Cape Canaveral, including the LC 26 blockhouse. Constructed for the Redstone and Jupiter missile programs in 1956-1957, the blockhouse was only about 400 feet from the launch pads and had to be explosion proof. The walls of the blockhouse are two-feet thick, and the dome-shaped roof is from five-feet to nearly eight-feet thick. Further explosion proof measures included windows about one foot thick and blast doors made with heavy armor-like plating.
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Launch Complex 31
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Launch Complex 31 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Beehive.
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Launch Complex 34 Blockhouse
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
This Blockhouse and its rectangular shaped west side support building that was used for climate control, is made from rebar re-enforced cement that is covered with a smoothed cement. The support building is attached to the circular blockhouse by a covered breezeway. There is an observation deck and access to the deck via stairs on the exterior of the structure. Listed as BR2280 with the Florida Master Site File. See also: https://vimeo.com/173126179
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Launch Complex 34 Flame Deflector
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
There were two flame deflectors made of steel frame, covered in 1” steel plates and with a 4” layer of heat resistant ceramic, that were available for Launch Complex 34. One deflector was used with the launch and the other was kept in case of any failure or need that might arise. These deflectors weigh over 150 tons and measure 43 feet in length, 32 feet wide, and 21 feet in height. They were moved to the pad or stored away via a rail system. These deflectors protected the vehicle and launch pedestal by diverting engine flames in controlled directions. Their inverted “V” shape and their welded and bolted steel design is of a unique construction and engineering. Launch Complex 34 is where the tragic Apollo 1 incident occurred, and today these deflectors are a backdrop on the pad that stands as a memorial to that event. Listed as 8BR2293 with the Florida Master Site File. See our docu-short on our 3D project: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/365904796
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Launch Pad 9
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Launch Pad 9 at Launch Complex 9/10 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station were built to support the Navaho winged intercontinental missile program and utilized the same blockhouse. Pad 9 is a 2-story reinforced concrete pedestal that had a foldaway erector gantry.
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LC 34 High Pressure Gas Storage Facility
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
This area consists of a concrete, riveted, vault style structure with two smaller bays flanking a main bay. This area was used to store cylinders of high pressure helium and nitrogen gases for use with launches and ground control services. Also known as 8BR2281. See also: https://vimeo.com/173126179
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Lighthouse Section
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Cross-section view of Cape Canaveral Lighthouse to reveal interior. This pointcloud is part of a 3D heritage preservation and documentation survey of the Cape Canaveral Light station. The survey included the interior structural, CAD and BIM modeling, condition assessment, and the development of a virtual tour including complete views from the lighthouse interior and of the lighthouse museum. TOUR LINK: https://arcweb.forest.usf.edu/dhhc/CCAFS/VirtualTour/LighthouseMuseum/. The iron lighthouse was originally constructed at Cape Canaveral in 1868, replacing a nearby brick tower c. 1848 that was located on the east side of the Cape overlooking the beach. Heavy erosion led to the construction of the iron lighthouse and to the loss of the brick tower. The structure was dismantled and moved in 1893 to its present location 1 mile interior on today’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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Lighthouse Section View
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Section through the outer wall of the lighthouse structure at Cape Canaveral, using terrestrial laser scanning data (mesh model) to show interior elements of the lower floors of the structure, such as the central stair, exterior door placement, ceiling vents, and interior brick walls. Part of a 3D laser scanning and imaging survey of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse for Space Launch Delta 45.
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Lighthouse Spiral Stair Reconstruction 3D Model
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
A 3D reconstruction of staircase elements recovered from archaeological excavations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is helping to better understand construction techniques at this site, based on the wrought iron fragments found and documented using structured light scanning technologies. Using a scaffolding staircase model, we can fit the fragments recovered to the model to reveal parts and functional aspects. These iron steps are from excavated ruins of a lighthouse brick tower. The tower dates to c.1848 and our archaeological dig on the site revealed a large portion of collapsed wall and a number of intact features and in situ artifacts. We used a phase shift hybrid instrument to document the excavations, and a structured light scanner to record the artifacts recovered from our dig at the site.
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Liquid Gases Facility 1275L at LC-26
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
This structure is part of Launch Complex 26 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Brevard County, Florida. This historic complex has served two primary functions – as a launch facility and as a museum. The LC-26 site was associated with the Redstone research and development program and later the Jupiter program. Additionally, the first American satellite, Explorer I, was famously launched from LC-26 on January 31, 1958. The site was a dual-pad, single blockhouse complex constructed in 1957, and was also used for several launch missions involving primates that preceded human space exploration missions. The Facility 1275L structure was part of Pad B (see basemap). The complex is a significant cultural resource listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Modeled from terrestrial laser scanning data from our site-wide survey.
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Mercury 7 Astronaut Memorial
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
This public monument interpretive area is the Mercury 7 Memorial located at the entrance to Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The memorial area features several plaques and signage alongside the monument. Constructed of stainless steel, the piece is shaped in the form of the astronomical symbol for the planet Mercury and contains the number “7” for the seven Mercury astronauts. The memorial was dedicated in 1964 and contains a time capsule that President John F. Kennedy asked to be opened in 500 years, corresponding with the year 2464. The time capsule was placed in the center of the slab under a bronze plaque that overviews the site’s history and contains a quote from President Kennedy. The box contains technical reports and drawings of the capsule, photographs, a movie, and other mementos of the Mercury program.
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Thermonuclear Warhead GE AVCO Mark 5 Test
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Photogrammetry (color removed ) model from our digital program with the Space Launch Delta 45 Program. The Mark 5 Reentry vehicle was used on the LGM-30 Minuteman I & II ICBMs to protect its warhead as it reentered the atmosphere. The steel honeycomb structure has a quartz resin coating that burns away during reentry to dissipate the heat. Inside the reentry vehicle is a Type W59 thermonuclear warhead with a yield equivalent to one million tons of TNT. Test launches of Minuteman I missiles began in February 1961 at LC-31 on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first operational missiles came into service in October 1962. This Mark 5 was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, in the early 1960’s as part of a test exercise. The piece was recovered from the target site at Eniwetok Atoll and given to the Air Force Space and Missile Museum in 1965 and is today on display at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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Wave Guide Access Structure
Center for Digital Heritage and Geospatial Information
Facility 56608 was the Wave Guide Access Structure for a portable radar unit from the now demolished Area 55 facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The poured concrete ramp and stand had a T-shaped opening and connections for securing antenna were evident. Ideal CAD model.
