Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 26

Blockhouse of LC-26

Launch Complex 26 (LC-26) is a deactivated launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. LC-26 consisted of two pads, A and B. Pad A was used for the Jupiter-C and Juno I rockets, and was the launch site for Explorer 1, the United States' first satellite, in 1958. Pad B was used for Juno II. Jupiter IRBMs were launched from both pads.

LC-26 consoles

In its early years, it was used to launch ballistic missiles on test flights, and could have been used for a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union if nuclear war had begun.

On February 1, 1958 (January 31 local time), the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency launched Explorer 1 from LC-26A.

LC-26 is also the home of the Air Force Space & Missile Museum. Access to the museum at LC-26 as well as the adjoining LC-5 and LC-6 by the general public can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now Tour". The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station also offers monthly tours.

Gallery

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  Blockhouse

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  Thor-Able on pad 26B (not the type launched there)

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  Scales in the blockhouse used to weigh the rocket

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  Launch console

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  Equipment with windows in the background (45 sheets of safety glass)

See also

• List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites
• Jupiter IRBM
• Jupiter-C

External links

• Air Force Space and Missile Museum virtual tour
• video clip of LC 26 blockhouse tour
• Official Air Force Space and Missile Museum website