LC-39 Press Site–Clock and Flag Pole | |
 The flagpole and countdown clock at sunrise during theArtemis 1 wet dress rehearsal on April 3, 2022 | |
| Location | Kennedy Space Center Merritt Island, Florida |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Titusville, Florida |
| Coordinates | 28°34′56.95″N80°38′42.39″W / 28.5824861°N 80.6451083°W /28.5824861; -80.6451083 |
| Built | 1967 |
| Visitation | not open to the public (n/a) |
| MPS | John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 99001637[1] |
| Added to NRHP | January 21, 2000 |
TheLaunch Complex 39 Press Site is anews media facility atLaunch Complex 39 at theJohn F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) onMerritt Island, Florida where journalists have observed every U.S. crewed space launch sinceApollo 8 in 1968.[2] The site is just south of theVehicle Assembly Building (VAB); 3 miles (4.8 km) west-southwest of Pad A, and 3.4 miles (5.4 km) southwest of Pad B.
The site includes an elevated mound where news media facilities are located, as well as the KSC News Center and several smaller support buildings. The News Center is 8,700 square feet (810 m2) and contains 15 site support offices, media workspace, and a media library.[3] Current media buildings includeCBS,NBC,Florida Today andThe Orlando Sentinel; and trailers forThe Associated Press andReuters.
The 100-seat auditorium in the audio-video support building, where pre- and post-launch news conferences are held, is named for formerCNN correspondentJohn Holliman, who covered space exploration until his death in 1998. It was built in 1980.
A large illuminated digitalcountdownclock and a flagpole flying anAmerican flag on the edge of theturning basin have often been included in television coverage and launch photos. Before a launch, the clock counts down, showing the remaining time until T-zero in hours, minutes and seconds (–00:00:00). After launch, the clock counts forward inMission Elapsed Time for several hours. The flagpole also flew a smallerSpace Shuttle Orbiter-specific flag below the American flag on launch day during the final years of theSpace Shuttle Program.
The site was ready for coverage of the first launch from KSC, the uncrewedApollo 4 flight on November 9, 1967, for which NASA received 510 requests for news media accreditation.[4] The sound of this firstSaturn V liftoff was sufficiently powerful at the Press Site to prompt CBS-TV anchorWalter Cronkite to exclaim, "Our building's shaking here...the floor is shaking...this big glass window is shaking, we're holding it with our hands!"[5] A ceiling tile or two were shaken loose above his head.[6]
During theApollo program, the NASA news center was located inCocoa Beach.[7] To provide on-site public affairs offices, aCharter-Sphere dome from the Third Century America exhibition near the VAB during theUnited States Bicentennial in 1976 was later moved to the mound. In 1983, it was replaced by a larger dome; and a permanent building, the current KSC News Center, replaced that dome in December 1995.[3]
During the first decade ofSpace Shuttle launches, NASAcontractors provided reference materials to the media from the Joint Industry Press Center (JIPC, pronounced "gypsy"), housed in a semi-permanent trailer located near a large coveredgrandstand facing the two launch pads.
The grandstand, built in 1967, was torn down following damage fromHurricane Frances in September 2004. Several media trailers and buildings on the mound were also damaged, and were either removed or replaced with prefabricated structures.[3]
On November 10, 2014, NASA powered on the clock for the last time for a final system test. The clock was supposed to be removed and replaced before the Orion EFT-1 Launch. The old clock is currently on display at the KSC Visitor Complex.
On July 16, 1969, 3,493 journalists from the U.S. and 55 other countries attended the launch ofApollo 11.[8] A plaque noting the event placed in 1975 bySigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists, designates the location as an Historic Site in Journalism for "the largest corps of newsmen in history...to report fully and freely to the largest audience in history". After Apollo 11, however, media attendance diminished.Apollo 17, the last in the lunar landing program and its only night launch, prompted a resurgence in attendance, as did theApollo-Soyuz Test Project launch in 1975.[4]
TheSTS-1 launch on April 12, 1981 had 2,707 accredited representatives present.[4] The second-largest number, 2,468, was for theSTS-26 launch on September 29, 1988. Most, however, covered the launch from a more distant causeway viewing site because the LC-39 Press Site was restricted to a limited number of journalists as part of safety precautions implemented after the 1986Challenger explosion. The restriction was dropped for subsequent launches. Media attendance spiked again in October 1998 forJohn Glenn's launch aboardSTS-95, and for the final shuttle launch,STS-135, on July 8, 2011 when 1,585 news people attended.
On July 16, 1974, a crowd gathered at the Press Site to dedicate the entire launch complex as aNational Historic Site, which had been listed as of May 24, 1973. The countdown clock was set to reach zero at 9:32 a.m. ET, exactly five years after the Apollo 11 liftoff. AstronautsNeil Armstrong,Buzz Aldrin andMike Collins then unveiled a plaque commemorating their flight.[7] OnJanuary 21, 2000, the "LC-39 Press Site–Clock and Flag Pole" were specifically added to the U.S.National Register of Historic Places as part of a Multiple Property Submission.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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