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Explosives topple ULA launch complex towers to make room for SpaceX Starships at Cape Canaveral
Following a quick succession of orange-flamed explosions, United Launch Alliance's mobile service tower and high-reaching lightning towers toppled to the ground Thursday, June 11, at historic Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The demolition clears room for SpaceX to build new launch pads, landing pads and surrounding infrastructure for enormous Starship-Super Heavy rocket systems — which could start rumbling to flight from Launch Complex 37 as soon as next year.
"Shout out to the @SLDelta45 and @SpaceX for the clean and precision demolition operation!!! Cheers to the future!" SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev said in a tweet.
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ULA previously launched Delta IV rockets from the complex. The 16th Delta IV Heavy triple-core rocket notched its final fiery liftoff in April 2024 on a National Reconnaissance Office mission, marking the last launch at the site.
Now, SpaceX awaits key environmental and regulatory approvals from the U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration to start launching Starships from the complex. A 176-page Air Force draft environmental impact statement spells out proposed new infrastructure at LC-37:
Two integration towers, each measuring about 600 feet tall.
Two concrete launch pads about 400 feet long by 400 feet wide.
Two concrete landing pads, each measuring about 225 feet in diameter, with two Super Heavy first-stage-booster catch towers. These will stack up similar in size to the integration towers.
Flame trenches and diverters to reduce acoustic and thermal energy during launches and landings.
Utilities, propellant tanks, staging and storage buildings, water storage and stormwater ponds, lighting and other improvements.
In addition, SpaceX would widen about seven miles of Phillips Parkway. Roughly four miles of this stretch lie on the Space Force installation, while the other three are on NASA's adjacent Kennedy Space Center. Crews would also widen and improve about one mile of Old State Road A1A.
ULA's lease of LC-37 expired after that April 2024 Delta IV Heavy launch, and infrastructure at the launch site was turned over to the Air Force, said Emre Kelly, Space Launch Delta 45 media operations chief.
"The (Air Force) does not intend to make a future leasing decision on SLC-37 until the Starship Environmental Impact Statement is complete and Record of Decision has been published," Kelly said in an email.
Launch Complex 37 construction wrapped up in August 1963, three months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Six Saturn I and two Saturn IB rockets launched there during the 1960s before NASA deactivated and mothballed the complex by November 1971, according to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum.
After lying dormant for more than two decades, crews built new infrastructure at the complex and the first Delta IV launched in November 2002.
'I have great feelings of nostalgia for that pad. I was fortunate enough to capture several Delta Medium and Delta Heavy launches from that pad. The Delta rockets were just beautiful to photograph," Indialantic space photographer Michael Seeley said after capturing demolition video and images.
"And so, watching it topple, I was reminded of that. And I'm reminded that, with change comes opportunity. I'm interested to see what comes next,' Seeley said.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@ Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: ULA rocket towers demolished at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
