NASA And SpaceX To Build A New Launch Pad For Starship And Other Heavy Spacecrafts

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Earlier this month, SpaceX founder Elon Musk had taken to social media to share a tweet announcing his plan to build a new rocket launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for Starship and other heavy spacecraft. While SpaceX had requested NASA to conduct an environmental assessment of its launch complex 49, the American space agency in its recent shared press release stated, “The 175-acre site, located north of Launch Complex 39B within the center’s security perimeter, would support the launch and landing of the company’s Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle.”

With both, NASA and SpaceX moving forward with the initial environmental assessment before taking a final call, Kennedy’s director of Center Planning and Development, Tom Engler said, “LC-49 has been a part of Kennedy’s master plan for several years, whose availability was updated in 2014.” While all development activities in the area are subjected to National Environmental Policy Act every construction work has to clear the environmental review.

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The press release shared by NASA also had a statement from the Kennedy Environmental Planning Office’s Technical lead Don Dankert, who added, “Every new construction project, whether government or commercial, goes through a comprehensive environmental review process. This ensures that we are able to identify potential environmental impacts and define any associated mitigations prior to project implementation.”

While NASA is expected to share its proposed environmental assessment of launch complex 49 in early 2022, the space agency has also been focused on Boeing’s Starliner. After several months of extensive research, they have finally solved the issue and are now expected to move up the launch date of Starliner’s test flight.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, NASA recently extended their contract with SpaceX by awarding them three more commercial crew missions to International Space Station, as they were the only aerospace company to pass NASA’s safety and cost-efficient assessments.

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Cover Image: Shutterstock





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