Space Launch Complex 41

An aerial view of SLC-41 prior to the launch of theBoeing Crewed Flight Test
Location	28°35′00″N80°34′59″W / 28.58333°N 80.58306°W /28.58333; -80.58306
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Short name	SLC-41
Operator	United States Space Force (owner) United Launch Alliance (tenant)
Total launches	117
Launch pad	1
Orbital inclination range	28° - 57°
Launch history Status Active First launch 21 December 1965 Titan IIIC (LES-3 & 4) Last launch 25 September 2025 Atlas V (KuiperSat KA-03) Associated rockets Current:Atlas V,Vulcan Retired:Titan IIIC,Titan IIIE,Titan IV

Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), sometimes referred to as "Slick Forty-one," is one of two launch sites at theIntegrate-Transfer-Launch Complex inCape Canaveral Space Force Station,Florida.^[1][2][3] Originally built asLaunch Complex 41 (LC-41), it and the neighboringSpace Launch Complex 40 were designed for theUnited States Air Force'sTitan III rocket program, where it launched theTitan IIIC in the 1960s and theTitan IIIE in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the Air Force andMartin Marietta upgraded the pad for use by the Titan III's successor, theTitan IV.

During the early 2000s, SLC-41 underwent modifications byLockheed Martin in order to support the launch operations of theAtlas V. It was later transferred toUnited Launch Alliance (ULA)—ajoint venture between Lockheed Martin andBoeing—who continues to use the pad today for launches of the Atlas V and its successor,Vulcan Centaur.

Launch Complex 41 was originally built as part of theIntegrate-Transfer-Launch Complex (ITL), intended to launchTitan III rockets withsolid rocket boosters in a method to enable a rapid launch rate. The ITL consisted of a Titan assembly facility at theVertical Integration Building (demolished in 2006), an SRB attachment facility at the Solid Motor Assembly Building (now used bySpaceX to processFalcon 9 payloads), and two pads atLaunch Complex 40 (LC-40, now SLC-40) and LC-41, all connected by the first rail line at the Cape.^[4] The facilities were completed in 1964, and the first launch from LC-41 was of aTitan IIIC carrying four separate payloads on December 21, 1965.^[5]

Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, LC-41 was used to launch 10 Titan IIICs, the entirety of them being military payloads such asVela nuclear detection satellites andLincoln Experimental Satellites. The last Titan IIIC launch from LC-41 took place in May 1969, launching Vela satellites OPS-6909 and OPS-6911, the later of which would detect a double flash in the southernIndian Ocean and instigate theVela incident ten years later. All remaining launches of the rocket were made from LC-40.

In the early 1970s, LC-41 underwent a modification to launch theTitan IIIE, which replaced theTranstage upper stage of the IIIC with aCentaur. With the exception of its inaugural flight in February 1974, every launch from the pad in this era contained aNASA payload. Those satellites were the twoHelios probes sent to study theSun (setting a proximity record only broken by theParker Solar Probe), the twoViking probes sent to orbit and land onMars, and the twoVoyager spacecraft that flew byJupiter,Saturn,Uranus, andNeptune. The Titan III facility at Complex 41 was deactivated in late 1977, following September's launch ofVoyager 1.^[6]

In 1986, the existing mobile service tower and umbilical tower at LC-41 were both stripped down to their main structural components as part of a renovation conducted by Titan manufacturerMartin Marietta. This was done as part of their "tear-out and refurbish" contracts, which modified and prepared the ITL for its new rocket configuration: LC-40 would get converted to use the civilian-basedCommercial Titan III, while LC-41 would be used for the military-focusedTitan IV.^[6] Additionally, Titan IV processing would go through the newly-constructed Solid Motor Assembly Readiness Facility (now used byULA in the assembly ofVulcan Centaur) prior to launch. The maiden flight of the Titan IV occurred on June 14, 1989, carryingUSA-39 for theUnited States Air Force. Similarly to most other Titan launches, all 10 launches of the Titan IV from LC-41 were classified military payloads, most going intogeostationary transfer orbit.

The Titan family of the 1980s and 1990s was marred by its price in the eyes of commercial customers, who instead opted to use cheaper launch vehicles likeDelta II andAriane 4. FollowingLockheed's merger with Martin Marietta in 1995,Lockheed Martin eventually decided to begin the process of retiring the Titan program in favor of their cheaperAtlas line. With any remaining Titan IV launches to be made from LC-40, the last Titan launch from LC-41 was on 9 April 1999, when a Titan IVB launched theUSA-142early warning satellite. TheIUS upper stage failed to separate, leaving the payload stranded in a uselessGTO orbit.^[7]

After the last Titan launch, LC-41 was renovated by Lockheed Martin and the Air Force to support theAtlas V as part of theEvolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, getting rechristened as SLC-41 in the process. The old launch tower and mobile service structure were demolished, while the new Vertical Integration Facility was built for the assembly of the new launch vehicle. Additionally, the rail lines going towards the pad were renovated to support the assembly and transportation of the Atlas V and it'smobile launcher platform for liftoff.^[8] SLC-41 was the site of the first-ever Atlas V launch on August 21, 2002, liftingHot Bird 6, aEutelsat geostationary communications spacecraft built around aSpacebus 3000B3 bus.^[9][10]

Over the years of the Atlas V era, SLC-41 was used to launch various noteworthy payloads for various agencies such as NASA and the Air Force. These include theMars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005, theNew Horizons spacecraft toPluto in January 2006, theJuno mission toJupiter in August 2011,^[11] and two of theMars rover missions;Mars Science Laboratory in November 2011, andMars 2020 in July 2020.^[12][13] Other notable payloads to be mentioned are various launches of theBoeing X-37B for the Air Force throughout the 2010s, and a couple ofCyngus flights to theInternational Space Station in 2015 and 2016 following the failure ofCygnus Orb 3.

In 2005, it was announced that a joint venture would form between Lockheed Martin andBoeing that would combine Atlas V operations at SLC-41 with Delta II andDelta IV operations atSLC-17 andSLC-37 respectively, following issues with profit abounding with competition between the two. This transfer in operation was made official in December 2006, with the formation ofUnited Launch Alliance. The first launch from SLC-41 under ULA came in March 2007 with a variety ofDepartment of Defense payloads lifting off from an Atlas V.

In 2011, the idea of rebuilding alaunch tower at SLC-41 began to get proposed followingSierra Nevada Corporation and Boeing's decisions to have the Atlas V launch their respectiveDream Chaser andCST-100 Starliner spacecraft into orbit. Proposals turned into plans in 2014, following Boeing's winning of a contract as part of NASA'sCommercial Crew Program to launch astronauts to the ISS.^[14] Pad modifications at SLC-41 began in September 2015 to supporthuman spaceflight to support Starliner, including the addition of a launch service tower to provide access to the capsule for "pre-launch processing, crew access, and safety egress systems should the need to evacuate Starliner on the pad occur".^[15][14] The first launch utilizing the newly-built launch tower came on December 20, 2019 with the launch of theBoeing Orbital Flight Test. This was followed up with the first crewed launch to be made from SLC-41, which occurred on June 5, 2024 with theBoeing Crew Flight Test and carried astronautsBarry Wilmore andSunita Williams into orbit. This was the first crewed launch fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station sinceApollo 7 in 1968 and made SLC-41 the seventh pad in the Cape Canaveral area to launch astronauts into space.^[a]

During the late 2010s and the early 2020s, SLC-41, the VIF, and the SMARF (which was renamed to the Spaceflight Processing Operations Center in 2019) underwent minor modifications to supportVulcan Centaur, the successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV. This was in part due to the Atlas V using theRussian-builtRD-180 as its first stage engine, which drew concern amongCongress following the2014 annexation of Crimea and theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As the Atlas V still had numerous pending launches (mainly for Starliner andKuiper satellites as payloads), SLC-41's modifications were made to allow both rockets to take off from the pad, rather than a more traditional renovation like what was seen atVandenberg'sSLC-3E. The first Vulcan launch to be made from the pad occurred on January 8, 2024, carryingPeregine Mission One to theMoon as part of NASA'sCommercial Lunar Payload Services.

Launch sites atCape Canaveral Space Force Station andKennedy Space Center

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  Active pads

  Active pads not used for launches

  Inactive leased pads

  Inactive unleased pads

1

LC-39B

2

LC-39A

3

LC-48

4

SLC-41

5

SLC-40

6

LC-47

7

SLC-37

8

LC-34

9

SLC-20

10

LC-19

11

LC-16

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LC-15

13

LC-14

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LC-13 (LZ-2)

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LC-12

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LC-11

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LC-36

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LC-1,LC-2,LC-3, andLC-4

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SLC-46

20

LC-21 andLC-22

21

LC-31 andLC-32

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LC-18

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SLC-17

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LC-26

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LC-5 andLC-6

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LC-30

27

LC-25

28

LC-29

All launches operated by theUnited States Air Force.

All launches from 2002 to 2006 operated byLockheed Martin. All launches since 2007 operated byUnited Launch Alliance.

All launches operated byUnited Launch Alliance.

• 
  A Titan IIIE launchingVoyager 2 from LC-41 in 1977.
• 
  A Titan IV on LC-41 in 1996. The steel towers visible at the left and right are part of thelightning protection system.
• 
  SLC-41 in its early Atlas V years, carryingNew Horizons as its payload in 2006.
• 
  An Atlas V launching from the pad, with the crew access tower (left) complete.
• 
  AVulcan Centaur Launches from SLC-41 in October 2024.

• List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites
• Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

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