Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40

Space Launch Complex 40 , sometimes referred to as "Slick Forty," is one of two launch pads located at the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It initially opened as Launch Complex 40 and was used by the United States Air Force alongside the neighboring Space Launch Complex 41 for the Titan III program. It first saw use by the Titan IIIC throughout the 1960s and 1970s, before getting retrofitted for the Titan 34D during the 1980s. In the 1990s, Martin Marietta and the Air Force upgraded it to launch the Commercial Titan III, but the rocket's lack of success caused the pad to be used by the Titan IV throughout the decade and into the 2000s.
Following the Titan family's retirement, the SLC-40 lease was given to SpaceX in 2007 for use by their new rocket, the Falcon 9. Since the early 2010s, the pad has transformed into a high-volume launch site for the Falcon 9, being mainly used to service the company's Starlink megaconstellation. As of January 2026, the pad has hosted over 305 Falcon 9 launches.
In the near future, SpaceX will add a new Falcon 9 landing zone within the SLC40 launch complex to replace Landing Zones 1 and 2.

History

Titan IIIC and 34D (1965–1989)

Launch Complex 40 was originally constructed by the United States Air Force as one of two launch pads of the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex, tasked with launching Titan III rockets with solid rocket boosters. The ITL was similar to Launch Complex 39 at the nearby Kennedy Space Center, where Titans would get assembled at the Vertical Integration Building, have their boosters built and attached at the Solid Motor Assembly Building, and launched from either LC-40 or Launch Complex 41.
LC-40 hosted its inaugural launch in June 1965, a Titan IIIC rocket with a 9,500 kg mass simulator to test the Transtage upper stage. Almost every Titan IIIC launch from the pad carried a military payload, the vast majority of them being classified reconnaissance satellites. Additionally, the ITL was planned to launch the Titan IIIM for the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, using it as a testing ground before the operational launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base's SLC-6 would be activated. The only MOL launch made before the program's cancellation occurred at LC-40, with OPS 0855 lifting off in November 1966 with the first capsule to be reused, Gemini SC-2 previously flown on Gemini 2.
Going into the 1970s, LC-40 became the dedicated launch site for the Titan IIIC within the ITL, as LC-41 would undergo modifications to launch the Titan IIIE. Throughout the rest of the decade, the complex would see approximately one to three Titan IIIC launches a year until the rocket's replacement with the Titan 34D in the early 1980s. Similarly to its predecessor, every Titan 34D launch from the pad was for military purposes, being used to put payloads into geostationary transfer orbit.

Commercial Titan III and Titan IV (1990–2005)

In the late 1980s, Titan manufacturer Martin Marietta and the Air Force converted the ITL to their new Titan configurations: LC-40 would be used to launch the civilian-focused Commercial Titan III, while LC-41 would be for the military-oriented Titan IV. Additionally, Titan IV processing would go through the newly built Solid Motor Assembly and Readiness Facility before launch. This setup did not last, as the Commercial Titan III's price compared to cheaper systems like Delta II and Ariane 4 limited its customer base into early retirement. That being said, a handful of notable payloads were launched from LC-40 in this era, like Intelsat 603 in March 1990 and the failed Mars Observer in September 1992. File:Titan4B on Launch Complex 40.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A Titan IV rocket with the Cassini–Huygens payload at LC-40 in 1997Following the Commercial Titan III's retirement, LC-40 was converted to complement LC-41 in the launches of the Titan IV. As was typical for the Titan family, almost all launches in the decade carried military payloads; the only exception to this was NASA and ESA's Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn in October 1997. Going into the new millennium, the cost of Titan launches led to Lockheed Martin winding down and announcing the retirement of the Titan family in favor of their cheaper Atlas launch vehicles. As such, the last Titan IV launches at the ITL were made from LC-40, with LC-41 and the SMARF converted to process and launch the Atlas V. Over its lifetime, LC-40 supported a total of 55 Titan launches, including 26 Titan IIICs, eight Titan 34Ds, four Commercial Titan IIIs, and 17 Titan IVs. The final Titan launch from LC-40 was the Lacrosse-5 reconnaissance satellite carried on a Titan IV-B on April 30, 2005.
Following the conclusion of Titan operations, the launch complex underwent significant transformation. The tower was dismantled in early 2008, followed by the controlled demolition of the Mobile Service Structure later that year.

SpaceX and Falcon 9 (2007–present)

SpaceX leased LC-40 from the U.S. Air Force in April 2007 to launch its Falcon 9 rocket, getting renamed to SLC-40 much like what happened to SLC-41 and SLC-37. Ground facility construction began the following year, including a rocket and payload preparation hangar and new fuel tanks. A spherical liquid oxygen tank previously used at LC-34 was purchased from NASA.
The first Falcon 9 arrived in late 2008, with the inaugural launch in June 2010 carrying a dummy payload. A Dragon spacecraft demonstration flight followed in December. Starting in 2012, SLC-40 became the primary launch site for the Dragon cargo vehicle providing provide two-way logistics to and from the International Space Station, a role previously filled by the Space Shuttle until its retirement in 2011.
To accommodate the heavier Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, the launch pad was modified in 2013. Launch frequency gradually increased from 2014, with a mix of Dragon and satellite missions.
A catastrophic explosion occurred at SLC-40 in September 2016 during a static fire test, destroying a Falcon 9 rocket and its payload, the AMOS-6 satellite. The incident caused significant damage to the launch pad. After a thorough investigation and cleanup, repairs and upgrades began in early 2017. SLC-40 returned to service in December 2017 with the successful launch of CRS-13.
SpaceX had leased Launch Complex 39A at the nearby Kennedy Space Center from NASA in April 2014, which allowed launches to continue to from Florida during the reconstruction of SLC-40. In August 2018, LC-39A's crew access tower received an access arm, allowing crew to be loaded onto Crew Dragon 2 capsules along with late payload changes on Cargo Dragon 2 capsules. Because SLC-40 lacked an access tower, Dragon missions were paused after the original Dragon 1 capsule was retired in 2020.In the 2020s, SLC-40 would become SpaceX's "workhorse" launch pad, hosting less complex satellite launch missions as frequently as every week, completing 50 launches of this launch pad alone in 2023. Meanwhile, LC-39A was used less, being reserved for Dragon crew and cargo flights, Falcon Heavy missions, and other complex missions.
To add additional operational flexibility and reduce reliance on LC-39A, in early 2023, SpaceX began constructing an access tower at SLC-40. In February 2024, SpaceX tested its new emergency escape system for future crewed missions, which uses an evacuation slide instead of the slidewire baskets used at LC-39A.
The tower was first used ahead of in early 2024 to accommodate late loading of supplies into cargo spacecraft. SLC-40 was used to launch its first crewed mission in September 2024, SpaceX Crew-9. The mission had been slated to use LC-39A, but was shifted to SLC-40 when the launch was delayed due to issues with the Boeing Starliner Calypso spacecraft that was docked to the ISS. In addition, the delay would have bled into LC-39A's conversion process into Falcon Heavy launches, as one was being used to launch NASA's Europa Clipper in October.
In the near future, SpaceX will make a new Falcon 9 landing pad within SLC40 launch complexes to eliminate use of Landing Zones 1 and 2.

Launch & Landing history

SLC-40

Titan III and IV

All IIIC, 34D, and IV flights operated by the United States Air Force. All Commercial flights operated by Martin Marietta.

No.	Date	Time	Launch vehicle	S/N and Configuration	Payload	Result	Remarks
1	18 June 1965	14:00	Titan IIIC	3C-7	Mass simulator		Maiden flight of the Titan IIIC. First flight from LC-40 and the ITL Complex.
2	15 October 1965	17:24	Titan IIIC	3C-4	LCS-2		Transtage ultimately failed while in low Earth orbit due to leak in oxidizer tank.
3	3 November 1966	13:50	Titan IIIC	3C-9	OPS-0855		Only flight for the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Gemini B capsule flew on a suborbital trajectory while the rest continued into orbit. First ever flight of a reused spacecraft, being Gemini SC-2 flown on Gemini 2.
4	8 April 1970	10:50	Titan IIIC	3C-18	OPS-7033 and OPS-7034		First Titan IIIC flight following rocket's decommission from LC-41.
5	6 November 1970	10:35	Titan IIIC	3C-19	OPS-5960		Third burn of Transtage failed, leaving payload unusable in a lower orbit than intended.
6	5 May 1971	07:43	Titan IIIC	3C-20	OPS-3811
7	3 November 1971	03:09	Titan IIIC	3C-21	OPS-9431 and OPS-9432
8	1 March 1972	09:39	Titan IIIC	3C-22	OPS-1570
9	13 June 1973	07:14	Titan IIIC	3C-24	OPS-6157
10	13 December 1973	23:57	Titan IIIC	3C-26	OPS-9433 and OPS-9434
11	30 May 1974	13:00	Titan IIIC	3C-27	ATS-6		Part of the Applications Technology Satellites program. Collaboration between NASA and ISRO. First civilian launch from LC-40.
12	20 May 1975	14:03	Titan IIIC	3C-25	OPS-9435 and OPS-9436		Failure of Transtage's inertial measurement unit left payload stranded in LEO.
13	14 December 1975	05:15	Titan IIIC	3C-29	OPS-3165
14	15 March 1975	01:25	Titan IIIC	3C-30	LES-8, LES-9, Solrad 11A, and Solrad 11B
15	26 June 1976	03:00	Titan IIIC	3C-28	OPS-2112
16	6 February 1977	06:00	Titan IIIC	3C-23	OPS-3151
17	12 May 1977	14:26	Titan IIIC	3C-32	OPS-9437 and OPS-9438
18	25 March 1978	18:09	Titan IIIC	3C-35	OPS-9439 and OPS-9440		Hydraulics pump failure in second stage forced range safety protocols to be activated 8 minutes into flight.
19	10 June 1978	19:12	Titan IIIC	3C-33	OPS-9454
20	14 December 1978	00:43	Titan IIIC	3C-36	OPS-9441 and OPS-9442
21	10 June 1979	13:39	Titan IIIC	3C-31	OPS-7484
22	1 October 1979	11:22	Titan IIIC	3C-34	OPS-1948
23	21 November 1979	21:36	Titan IIIC	3C-37	OPS-9443 and OPS-9444
24	16 March 1981	19:24	Titan IIIC	3C-40	OPS-7390
25	31 October 1981	09:22	Titan IIIC	3C-39	OPS-4029
26	6 March 1982	19:25	Titan IIIC	3C-38	OPS-8701		Final flight of the Titan IIIC.
27	30 October 1982	03:05	Titan 34D	34D-1, IUS	OPS-9445 and DSCS-III 1		Maiden flight of the Titan 34D, and first flight of the Inertial Upper Stage. Only Titan 34D flight with an IUS.
28	31 January 1984	03:08	Titan 34D	34D-10, Transtage	OPS-0441
29	14 April 1984	16:52	Titan 34D	34D-11, Transtage	OPS-7641
30	22 December 1984	00:02	Titan 34D	34D-13, Transtage	USA-7
31	29 November 1987	03:28	Titan 34D	34D-8, Transtage	USA-28
32	2 September 1988	12:05	Titan 34D	34D-3, Transtage	USA-31		Broken pressurization lines forced early shutdown of Transtage during apogee burn, placing satellite in lower than intended orbit.
33	10 May 1989	19:47	Titan 34D	34D-16, Transtage	USA-37
34	4 September 1989	05:54	Titan 34D	34D-2, Transtage	USA-42 and USA-43		Final flight of the Titan 34D and final flight of the Transtage.
35	1 January 1990	00:07	Commercial Titan III	CT-1	Skynet 4A and JCSAT 2		Maiden flight of the Commercial Titan III, and first commercial launch from LC-40.
36	14 March 1990	11:52	Commercial Titan III	CT-2	Intelsat 603		Second stage failed to separate from kick motor, leaving payload stranded in LEO. Was visited by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-49 two years later, where a new kickstage was attached and boosted into geostationary orbit.
37	23 June 1990	11:19	Commercial Titan III	CT-3	Intelsat 604
38	25 September 1992	17:05	Commercial Titan III	CT-4	Mars Observer		Only flight of the Planetary Observer program, aimed at studying Mars. Final flight of the Commercial Titan III and final launch of the Titan III subfamily. First launch beyond geostationary orbit from LC-40. While launch was successful, communication was lost prior to Mars orbit insertion, likely due to a rupture in the fuel tank system.
39	7 February 1994	21:47	Titan IV	K-10, 401A / Centaur	USA-99		First Titan IV flight from LC-40. First Titan IV flight with a Centaur third stage.
40	22 December 1994	22:19	Titan IV	K-14, 402A / IUS	USA-107
41	14 May 1995	13:45	Titan IV	K-23, 401A / Centaur	USA-110
42	6 November 1995	05:15	Titan IV	K-21, 401A / Centaur	USA-115
43	3 July 1996	00:31	Titan IV	K-2, 405A	USA-125		Final Titan IV-A flight from LC-40.
44	23 February 1997	20:20	Titan IV	B-24, 402B / IUS	USA-130		Maiden flight of the Titan IV-B.
45	15 October 1997	08:43	Titan IV	B-33, 401B / Centaur	Cassini-Huygens		Part of the Large Strategic Science Missions, aimed at studying Saturn and its moons such as Titan and Enceladus. Collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the ASI. First spacecraft to orbit Saturn. Included the Huygens lander, first spacecraft to land on an outer solar system body and a moon besides the Moon. Only civilian launch on a Titan IV, and final Titan flight to go beyond geostationary orbit.
46	9 May 1998	01:38	Titan IV	B-25, 401B / Centaur	NROL-6		NRO launch. Orion satellite, also known as USA-139. First acknowledged launch by the National Reconnaissance Office from LC-40.
47	30 April 1999	16:30	Titan IV	B-32, 401B / Centaur	USA-143		Database error in Centaur lead to failure of attitude control and incorrect burns, placing satellite into useless orbit.
48	8 May 2000	16:01	Titan IV	B-29, 402B / IUS	USA-149
49	27 February 2001	21:20	Titan IV	B-41, 401B / Centaur	USA-157
50	6 August 2001	07:28	Titan IV	B-31, 402B / IUS	USA-159
51	16 January 2002	00:30	Titan IV	B-38, 401B / Centaur	USA-164
52	8 April 2003	13:43	Titan IV	B-35, 401B / Centaur	USA-169
53	9 September 2003	04:29	Titan IV	B-36, 401B / Centaur	NROL-19		NRO launch. Orion satellite, also known as USA-171. Final Titan flight with a Centaur.
54	14 February 2004	18:50	Titan IV	B-39, 402B / IUS	USA-176		Final flight of the Inertial Upper Stage.
55	30 April 2005	00:50	Titan IV	B-26, 405B	NROL-16		NRO launch. Lacrosse satellite, also known as USA-182. Final Titan IV launch from LC-40, final Titan launch from Cape Canaveral, and penultimate flight of the Titan family. The final flight was made in October at SLC-4E in Vandenberg.