Launch Complex 31 (LC-31) is a former launch complex at

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the station ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was built in 1959 with LC-32 for the U.S. Air Force to conduct test launches of the first

LGM-30 Minuteman The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and r ...

missiles. LC-31 was built next to

Navaho The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

complex

LC-9 Launch Complex 9 (LC-9) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is a launch pad on Cape Canaveral in Florida. It is north of Launch Complex 17. It is a small concrete structure consisting of an elevated launch pedestal and flame trench, centered o ...

, requiring LC-10 to be demolished. These complexes were the first to feature dual launch pads, one of which was subterranean. LC-31 consisted of a

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

, static launch pad (31A) and missile silo (31B). The bee-hive-shaped blockhouse is 210 yards from the static pad and 330 yards from the silo. The Air Force launched four Minuteman missiles from 31A; and 35 from the silo, 31B, between February 1, 1960 and September 23, 1969. Pad 31A was used later by the U.S. Army to test launch twelve

Pershing 1a The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. It was a solid-fueled two-stage theater ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile as ...

missiles.

The service tower has since been removed; the silo remains, and contains recovered debris from the Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle ''

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

''.

2015 opening of the silo

In 2015, NASA opened the silo and removed several pieces of ''Challengers debris, so they could be placed on permanent display at the

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus tour ...

Notes

External links

Wired4Space LC-31
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station 1959 establishments in Florida {{space-stub