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.

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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  LC-26 consoles

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  Blockhouse (2010)

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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 (2010)

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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
• Spherical panoramas of Launch Complex 26 and Museum

Coordinates: 28°26′39″N 80°34′17″W / 28.44417°N 80.57139°W / 28.44417; -80.57139