Greatheart Press

The Space Race

Puzzle 15 · Rockets and Launch Pads · Page 29 in print

Launch Complex 39

Pad 39B was built mostly as a backup; only Apollo 10 flew from it in the Apollo program.

Jump to a word
A high-angle view of a Saturn V beside its red launch tower, with roads, wetlands and the coast behind it.

Apollo 10’s Saturn V at Launch Complex 39B on May 4, 1969.

NASA / Johnson Space Center (S69-33854) · NASA media-use guidelines · Original record

The words

  1. Banana River

    A canal linked the Banana River’s Saturn barge channel to a turning basin near the VAB, allowing large rocket hardware to arrive by water.

    pp. 247–250 · Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab)

  2. Cape Kennedy

    Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy after the President’s assassination in 1963. The Canaveral name returned for federal use in 1973.

    pp. 146–148 · Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab)

  3. Crawler

    NASA’s tracked crawler-transporters carried the upright Saturn V and its mobile launcher between the VAB and the pads. Keeping the load level was central to their job.

    NASA: crawler builders and road surface (opens a new tab)

  4. Flame Trench

    A deflector beneath the rocket sent exhaust from Saturn V’s five first-stage engines along the flame trench. The trench helped determine the pad’s raised layout.

    Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab) · NASA: early Pad 39A construction (opens a new tab)

  5. High Bay

    High bays supplied the vertical space needed to stack Saturn V. The VAB contained four high bays, along with cranes, a low bay and a transfer aisle.

    Did you know?

    The large American flag on the VAB was first painted in 1976 for the Bicentennial Exposition on Space and Technology.

    NASA: the VAB’s high bays (opens a new tab)

  6. Marion

    The Marion Power Shovel Company built Kennedy’s two crawler-transporters. NASA drew on the company’s experience with large coal-mining machinery for the Apollo ground-transport problem.

    NASA: crawler builders and road surface (opens a new tab)

  7. Merritt Island

    NASA selected Merritt Island, north of Cape Canaveral, for Launch Complex 39. The new site provided room for the large assembly building and Saturn V launch facilities.

    Did you know?

    After Apollo, Pad 39B launched Skylab crews on smaller Saturn IB rockets. A raised support nicknamed the milk stool aligned them with the existing tower.

    Smithsonian: the mobile launch complex (opens a new tab)

  8. Moonport

    Moonport described an Apollo base where rockets were assembled indoors, then moved to a pad for final checks, fueling and launch.

    p. 83; pp. 280–281 · Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab)

  9. Press Site

    NASA built a press site at Complex 39 with trailers and a grandstand. It was ready for reporters covering Apollo 4’s launch in 1967.

    Did you know?

    In 1975, the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, recognized the site as a Historic Site in Journalism, honoring Apollo-era reporting.

    p. 4 · NASA: the launch-complex press site (opens a new tab)

  10. River Rock

    River rock covered the crawlerway where the transporter’s tracks ran. As the stones crushed, they absorbed vibration and had to be replaced.

    NASA: crawler builders and road surface (opens a new tab)

  11. Rollout

    Apollo 4’s flight-ready Saturn V rolled from the VAB to Pad 39A on August 26, 1967. The crawler carried the rocket, mobile launcher and tower together.

    NASA: Apollo 4’s rollout (opens a new tab)

  12. Swing Arms

    Nine swing arms carried service lines from the mobile launch tower to Saturn V. They moved clear of the vehicle as it launched.

    pp. 281–283 · Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab)

  13. Titusville

    Titusville, Brevard County’s seat, housed the spaceport’s land-acquisition office. Some owners faced condemnation proceedings when purchase negotiations failed.

    pp. 97–98 · Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab)

  14. Transfer Aisle

    The VAB’s transfer aisle provided floor space for moving and handling rocket stages. A crane lifted Apollo 11’s first stage from there into High Bay 1.

    NASA: Apollo 11’s first-stage lift (opens a new tab)

  15. Umbilical

    Saturn V’s umbilicals connected ground equipment to the rocket through bundles of electrical cables and fluid lines carried by the tower’s service arms.

    pp. 281–283 · Moonport: launch facilities and operations (opens a new tab)

Sources

  1. Launch Complex 39: From Saturn to Shuttle to SpaceX and SLSMichael Neufeld; National Air and Space Museum, May 22, 2020
  2. Early Construction of Launch Pad 39ANASA; May 20, 2022, caption for November 2, 1965 photograph
  3. 55 Years Ago: Apollo 4, the First Flight Saturn V, Rolls Out to the Launch PadJohn Uri; NASA Johnson Space Center, August 25, 2022
  4. Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and OperationsCharles D. Benson and William Barnaby Faherty; NASA SP-4204, 1978; printed pp. 83, 97–98, 146–148, 235, 247–250 and 281–283
  5. The CrawlersNASA’s Curious Universe, episode 6; November 16, 2020; transcript with John Giles, Sam Dove and Breanna Rohloff
  6. Kennedy at 60: Vehicle Assembly Building Ready for New Era of Launch VehiclesLinda Herridge; NASA Kennedy Space Center, January 13, 2022
  7. In 1969… Saturn V First Stage For Apollo 11 MissionNASA; March 8, 2012, caption for February 21, 1969 photograph
  8. The Press Site at KSCNASA Kennedy Space Center; NASA Facts FS-2006-03-009-KSC, p. 4, History of the Press Site

How we choose sources and photographs