Space Launch Complex 4 (SLC-4) was a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, used by Atlas and Titan rockets between 1963 and 2005. It consisted of two separate launch pads, SLC-4W and SLC-4E, which were formerly designated PALC2-3 and PALC2-4 respectively. Both pads were originally built for use by Atlas-Agena rockets, but were later rebuilt to handle Titan rockets. The designation SLC-4 was applied at the time of the conversion to launch Titans.
Space Launch Complex 4E is currently being redeveloped and used by SpaceX as a launch site for the Falcon 9 rocket. The first launch is scheduled for 2013. The 24 month refurbishment program started in early 2011. As of August 2011, demolition work on the pad's fixed and mobile service towers, with most of the fixed tower removed and the hammerhead crane removed from the mobile service tower.
Famous quotes containing the words space, launch and/or complex:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Now launch the small ship, now as the body dies
and life departs, launch out, the fragile soul
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—D.H. (David Herbert)
“By “object” is meant some element in the complex whole that is defined in abstraction from the whole of which it is a distinction.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)