Space Launch Complex 41

Space Launch Complex 41

An aerial view of SLC-41. The Atlas V on the pad is the one used to launch New Horizons to Pluto.
Launch site	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Location	28°35′00″N 80°34′59″W / 28.58333°N 80.58306°W / 28.58333; -80.58306Coordinates: 28°35′00″N 80°34′59″W / 28.58333°N 80.58306°W / 28.58333; -80.58306
Short name	SLC-41
Operator	United States Air Force
Total launches	86
Launch pad(s)	1
Min / max orbital inclination	28° - 57°
Launch history Status Active First launch 21 December 1965 Titan IIIC / LES-3/4 Last launch 18 August 2017 Atlas V / TDRS-M Associated rockets Titan IIIC Titan IIIE Titan IV Atlas V (current) Vulcan (2019)

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), previously Launch Complex 41 (LC-41), is an active launch site at the north end of Cape Canaveral, Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The site is currently used by United Launch Alliance (ULA) for Atlas V launches. Previously, it had been used by the Air Force, for Titan III and Titan IV launches. In the future, the pad will be used to launch the partly-reusable Vulcan launch vehicle. It is expected to launch for the first time in 2019.

The Titan III launch facilities at CCAFS were built as part of an Integrate-Transfer-Launch approach intended to enable a rapid launch rate. Titan vehicles were assembled and integrated with their payloads off-pad and then transported by rail to one of the two pads. The Titan III facilities included both LC-40 and LC-41, assembly buildings including the Vertical Integration Building, and the first rail line at the Cape. The facilities were completed in 1964, and the first launch from LC-41 was of a Titan IIIC, carrying four separate payloads, on December 21, 1965.

LC-41 was also the pad used for the maiden flight of the Titan IV. The last Titan launch from LC-41 was on April 9, 1999, when a Titan IVB launched the USA 142 early warning satellite. The IUS upper stage failed to separate, leaving the payload stranded in a useless GTO orbit.

After the last Titan launch, the complex was renovated, and since 2002, LC-41 has been used by ULA for Atlas V launches. The maiden flight of Atlas V launched from LC-41 on August 21, 2002. The Atlas V booster lifted Hot Bird 6, a Eutelsat geostationary communications spacecraft built around a Spacebus 3000B3 bus.