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Author
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Topic: Stoke Space to revive Launch Complex 14
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50126
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-10-2023 12:00 AM
   
collectSPACE Mercury re-rising: Stoke Space to balance past and future at historic launch padThe long-retired launch pad where astronaut John Glenn lifted off to become to the first American to orbit Earth is getting a new lease on life. The U.S. Space Force on Tuesday (March 7) announced it had allocated Space Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) to Stoke Space, a Washington-based company developing a reusable rocket intended to fly daily. In addition to LC-14 being the site where Glenn left the ground in February 1962, the Cape Canaveral, Florida complex also supported the launches of Scott Carpenter, Walter "Wally" Schirra and Gordon Cooper on the three NASA Mercury-Atlas missions that followed.  |
Buel
Member Posts: 861
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 03-10-2023 05:39 AM
Wow. Has anyone got any additional photos or videos of this site, please? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50126
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-10-2023 10:32 AM
You can take a virtual tour of Complex 14 as part of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Virtual Tour website. (It predates the switchover to the Space Force, but still has good information and photos.)The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum (formerly the Air Force Space and Missile Museum) has a page devoted to LC-14. Google Maps has a number of user-submitted photos and a few 360-degree Street Views around the launch complex. |
CJ
Member Posts: 75
From: Cherry Hill, NJ
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted 03-10-2023 08:02 PM
This decision leaves me speechless. |
dtemple
Member Posts: 766
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 03-15-2023 05:34 PM
The article stated the access ramp for pad 14 is 92 feet long (and 22 feet high). Ninety-two feet seems much shorter than I expected. Could a digit have been dropped while writing the article? Perhaps it is 192 feet long. (Is the length being measured at the base of the ramp or the ramp itself? In other words, the ramp representing the hypotenuse of a right triangle.) A 92 feet length seemingly would result in a fairly steep angle for the for the single-axle truck that pushed the Atlas on its transport trailer up the ramp to the launch pedestal. As the tractor-trailer combination reached the apex of the ramp and while transitioning to level, the trailer had to have clearance, otherwise it would have gotten stuck at this point. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50126
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-15-2023 06:16 PM
It is possible I misread this description from the Space Force Museum. Reading it again right now, it is unclear where the description of the ramp ends. The ramp was 24' wide and 92' long gradually increased to 22' high to the launch stand, 60' wide and 78' long and supported the umbilical mast, which is 84'6" above the launch stand. |
dtemple
Member Posts: 766
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 03-16-2023 12:52 AM
The 60-foot width must include the mobile gantry supports on each side of the launch stand. Photos of the launch pad (nearly identical to pads 11, 12, and 13) make the overall length, ramp and all, look much longer. |
PeterO
Member Posts: 447
From: North Carolina
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 03-16-2023 07:32 AM
I have two construction drawings of LC-14 that I downloaded about 10 years ago from an unknown source. I've scaled them to show the approximate lengths of the ramp and the entire length of the narrow portion before it widens out. 
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Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1774
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 03-16-2023 09:47 AM
Good that all the pads are getting new users. |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1958
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 03-16-2023 10:35 AM
Agree with you 100%. |
ea757grrl
Member Posts: 796
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 03-16-2023 08:55 PM
Thanks to PeterO for posting those drawings. Very handy for those of us who have the Revell launch pad kit in the "to-build" pile! (Also known in my case as "throw out much of the kit and build much of it from scratch"!)I'm among those who are happy these old launch sites will get to be loud and live once more. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1774
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 03-17-2023 07:10 AM
Those aren't the actual drawings for the pad. Aerospace had nothing to do with the actual design or modifications to the pad. It would be just as wrong to use them as it would be using the Revell kit if you are looking model the pad accurately. |
denali414
Member Posts: 843
From: Raleigh, NC
Registered: Aug 2017
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posted 03-17-2023 09:49 AM
...developing a reusable rocket intended to fly daily. Where/how could be happening daily flights? Talk about expensive. |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1412
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-17-2023 11:26 AM
Is this the launch site where there was a 3' high flame deflector or is that another rocket launch site at CC? |
dtemple
Member Posts: 766
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 03-17-2023 01:19 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Jim Behling:
Those aren't the actual drawings for the pad.
The drawings do seem to match with photos of pad 14. The claim the ramp was 92 feet long makes no sense to me. In fact, the Revell kit's ramp scales out to just about 92 feet and there's no way the resulting ramp angle is correct — much too steep. I not trying to claim the drawings are precise, but as I said they at least generally match with photography of the site. |
dtemple
Member Posts: 766
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 03-17-2023 01:28 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MarylandSpace:
Is this the launch site where there was a 3' high flame deflector or is that another rocket launch site at CC?
That must be another launch pad. The flame deflectors for the Atlas pads were nearly as tall as the pad itself. Each curved to a 90-degree angle. In fact, they were referenced as the flame bucket. Here is a good view of one. |
oly
Member Posts: 1443
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 03-17-2023 06:40 PM
The drawings overlaid on a Google Earth image of LC 14 appear to show a similar design. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1774
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 03-20-2023 08:23 AM
quote:
Originally posted by denali414:
Talk about expensive.
What do you mean expensive? SpaceX is trying to do that. |
denali414
Member Posts: 843
From: Raleigh, NC
Registered: Aug 2017
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posted 03-20-2023 08:31 AM
Jim. more talking about how/who could be having 365 launches a year. No one has that kind of sales or rocket launches. Last year SpaceX did 180 launches, about half this goal. Much of that was the Starlink system, which think mostly completed now. Do you really think there is that big a market now? Especially with competitors like ULA, SpaceX and Rocket Lab? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50126
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-20-2023 09:45 AM
This is off-topic to the thread, but Starlink is no where near being complete. To date, SpaceX has launched about 4,000 satellites out of the 12,000 planned for the initial constellation. Ultimately, SpaceX wants to have somewhere in the vicinity of 42,000 active Starlink satellites.Most of the satellites launched to date are also first generation, to be replaced as they fail/deorbit by the current v2 and future upgrades. Getting back on topic, Stoke Space's business model is based on what the company believes is a much-needed expanded capability in observation satellites to create a sustainable future on Earth. |
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