Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36

Launch Complex 36 is a launch complex located at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Located south of the Missile Row launch range, the complex originally consisted of two pads—designated LC-36A and LC-36B—to support the flights of Atlas launch vehicles equipped with a Centaur upper stage. From the 1960s to the 1980s, LC-36 was used by NASA and the United States Air Force to launch many payloads from the Atlas-Centaur and its derivatives, including the Pioneer, Surveyor, and Mariner probes. During the late 1980s, LC-36B was also used to launch the Atlas G, and General Dynamics modified the two pads to support the larger Atlas I, Atlas II, and Atlas III throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
Following the Atlas program's relocation to Cape Canaveral [Space Launch Complex 41|Space Launch Complex 41] in 2005, LC-36 stood vacant until Blue Origin acquired the lease in 2015 for use by their heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. The company made extensive modifications to the complex during this time, including demolishing 36A and 36B to build one large pad in place, as well as integrating the neighboring Launch Complex 11 into the facility. Following this large-scale renovation, the new era of LC-36 commenced with the maiden flight of New Glenn in January 2025.

History

LC-36 was originally constructed by the Federal government of [the United States|US government] in the early 1960s in order to launch the Atlas-Centaur rocket, with first launch in May 1962.
LC-36A was the scene of the biggest on-pad explosion in Cape history when Atlas-Centaur AC-5 fell back onto the pad on March 2, 1965. The accident spurred NASA to complete work on LC-36B which had been abandoned when it was 90% finished.
LC-36B was built near LC-36A "due to the Atlas-Centaur’s increasing flight rate – and low reliability early on."
The pad was modified by the operator of Atlas during the late 1980s to be able to launch the Atlas I, with first launch occurring in July 1990, and was subsequently modified two additional times during the 1990s to launch the Atlas II and Atlas III launch vehicles. Atlas III made its sixth and final launch from LC-36 in 2005.
There was a total of 68 and 77 launches from pads 36A and 36B, respectively, while the US government operated the launch complex in the first five decades of spaceflight.

Interregnum

The pad was unused from mid-2005 through 2015.
The legacy Atlas-Centaur umbilical towers of both pads were demolished in 2006. The mobile service towers were both demolished in controlled explosions on June 16, 2007. Tower B was demolished at 13:59 GMT and tower A followed twelve minutes later at 14:11.
In 2008, Aviation Week magazine reported that the U.S. Air Force committed to lease Launch Complex 36 to Space Florida for future use by the Athena III launch system, but that program never moved forward.
In March 2010, the USAF 45th Space Wing issued real property licenses to Space Florida for Space Launch Complexes 36 and 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Moon Express leased the pad in February 2015 from Space Florida as a development and test site for its commercial lunar operations and its lunar lander flight test vehicles.
In 2015, Blue Origin signed a long-term lease of launch site from Space Florida for launching Blue's orbital rockets, after Space Florida had previously leased the facility from the USAF in 2010 in order to facilitate commercial use of the land and facilities since the Air Force no longer required use of the launch complex. Moon Express and Blue Origin shared LC-36, delineated into LC-36A and LC-36B respectively, until Moon Express announced its relocation to Launch Complexes 17 and 18 in 2016, allowing Blue Origin full use of the LC-36 facility. In early 2016, Blue intended to begin orbital launches by 2020, as of 2019 they are expected to begin from LC-36 no earlier than 2024, although the launch finally occurred on 16 January 2025.

Blue Origin

On September 15, 2015, Blue Origin announced it would use Launch Complex 36 for launches of its orbital launch vehicle later in the decade. Blue had the lease in place for Launch Complex 36 by late 2015 from the Florida state space agency, Space Florida, and will manufacture their new BE-4-powered orbital launch vehicle at the nearby Exploration Park, also a part of the Space Florida land complex.
[File:Cape Canaveral Launch Pads - 2023-10-29 (53342411352).jpg|thumb|A satellite view of Launch Complex 36 in 2023, following reconstruction. Also visible are LC-12 and LC-13 to the north, and Complexes 1 through 4 to the southeast.]
By October 2015, the pad design and configuration was not yet publicly known. Blue broke ground for the facility to initiate construction activity on the site in June 2016.
By March 2016, the first launch of the Blue orbital launch vehicle New Glenn was estimated to be no earlier than 2020 and that target date had not changed by the time high-level specifications for the new launcher were unveiled in September 2016, nor by the time construction of the launch site was well underway in September 2018. New Glenn will be a very large -diameter vehicle. The first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 methane/oxygen engines producing total thrust at launch. The first stage will be reusable and is designed to land vertically.
Blue has also leased the adjacent land—formerly known as LC-11—to use as a ground-based rocket engine test facility. Construction of the new launch complex and engine test facility was still underway in September 2018. In addition to LC-11, Blue also leased LC-12 to the north, which has been in use as a storage site for various hardware surrounding New Glenn.
Although Blue has been publicly quiet about the status of the launch complex construction, high-resolution aerial photography released after Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 showed that facility foundation work is in place—including for the horizontal integration facility, the launch service structure, lightning tower, and water tower—and above-ground steel construction has commenced. In September 2019, the propellant tank farm was in the process of being installed.

Launch statistics

LC-36

All flights operated by Blue Origin.

No.	Date	Time	Launch vehicle	Booster	Payload	Result	Remarks
146	16 January 2025	07:03	New Glenn 7×2	7E01	Blue Ring Pathfinder		Maiden flight of New Glenn and first orbital launch for Blue Origin. First launch from LC-36 following complex rebuilding. Carried a prototype Blue Ring spacecraft. Originally supposed to fly the two ESCAPADE probes, but payloads switched following development issues with rocket. Booster landing failed during entry burn.
147	13 November 2025	20:55	New Glenn 7×2	7E02-1	ESCAPADE		Part of the SIMPLEx program, two orbiters designed to study the magnetosphere and atmosphere of Mars. First New Glenn launch into heliocentric orbit, and first successful booster landing by a non-SpaceX launch vehicle.

Upcoming launches

LC-36A

Atlas-Centaur

All flights operated by NASA.

Atlas II

All flights before 1994 operated by General Dynamics, from 1994 to January 1995 by Martin Marietta, and since April 1995 by Lockheed Martin.

No.	No.	Date	Time	Launch vehicle	Configuration	Payload	Result	Remarks
72	33	11 February 1992	00:41	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-78		First launch of the Atlas II from LC-36A.
75	34	2 July 1992	21:54	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-82
78	35	19 July 1993	22:04	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-93
80	36	28 November 1993	23:40	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-97
84	37	3 August 1994	23:57	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	DBS-2		First Atlas IIA launch from LC-36A.
86	38	29 November 1994	10:21	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	Orion 1
88	39	29 January 1995	01:25	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-104
90	40	7 April 1995	23:47	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	AMSC-1
92	41	31 May 1995	15:27	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-111
93	42	31 July 1995	23:30	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	USA-113
95	43	22 October 1995	08:00	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-114
97	44	15 December 1995	00:23	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	Galaxy 3R
99	45	3 April 1996	23:01	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	Inmarsat 3-F1
101	46	25 July 1996	12:42	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-127
103	47	21 November 1996	20:47	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	Hot Bird 2
106	48	8 March 1997	06:01	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	Tempo 2
109	49	4 September 1997	12:03	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	AMC-3		First Atlas IIAS launch from LC-36A.
111	50	25 October 1997	00:46	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	USA-135
113	51	29 January 1998	18:37	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	NRO launches\|NROL-5]		NRO launch. SDS satellite, also known as USA-137. First launch from LC-36 acknowledged by the National Reconnaissance Office.
115	52	16 March 1998	21:32	Atlas II	Atlas II	USA-138		Final flight of the baseline Atlas II.
116	53	18 June 1998	22:48	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	Intelsat 805
118	54	20 October 1998	07:19	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	USA-140
125	59	3 May 2000	07:07	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	GOES-11		Launched as GOES-L. Part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites system of satellites.
127	60	30 June 2000	12:56	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	TDRS-8		Launched as TDRS-H. Part of the Tracking and [Data Relay Satellite System]. First TDRS launch from LC-36, and first unmanned TDRS launch.
129	61	20 October 2000	00:40	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	USA-153
130	62	6 December 2000	02:47	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	NROL-10		NRO launch. SDS satellite, also known as USA-155.
132	63	23 July 2001	07:23	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	GOES-12		Launched as GOES-M. Part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites system of satellites.
135	64	8 March 2002	22:59	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	TDRS-9		Launched as TDRS-I. Part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
136	65	18 September 2002	22:04	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	Hispasat 1D
137	66	5 December 2002	02:42	Atlas II	Atlas IIA	TDRS-10		Launched as TDRS-J. Part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Final flight of the Atlas IIA.
140	67	5 February 2004	23:46	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	AMC-10
142	68	16 April 2004	00:45	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	Superbird 6		Launch was a success, but gravitational perturbations by the Moon caused a lower than expected perigee and permanent damage to satellite.
144	69	31 August 2004	23:17	Atlas II	Atlas IIAS	NROL-1		NRO launch. SDS satellite, also known as USA-179. Final flight of the Atlas II, and final flight from LC-36A prior to demolition and Blue Origin's pad consolidation.

LC-36B

Atlas-Centaur and Atlas G

All flights operated by NASA.

No.	No.	Date	Time	Launch vehicle	Configuration	Payload	Result	Remarks
6	1	11 August 1965	14:31	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas LV-3C /Centaur-D	Surveyor SD-2		Mass simulator for a Surveyor lunar lander. First launch from LC-39B. First fully successful flight of a Surveyor mass simulator.
7	2	8 April 1966	01:00	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas LV-3C /Centaur-D	Surveyor SD-3		Mass simulator for a Surveyor lunar lander. Centaur prematurely depleted ullage propellant, preventing engine restart.
10	3	26 October 1966	11:12	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas LV-3C /Centaur-D	Surveyor SD-4		Mass simulator for a Surveyor lunar lander. First ever restart of a cryogenic engine in orbit.
11	4	17 April 1967	07:05	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas LV-3C /Centaur-D	Surveyor 3		Part of the Surveyor program, aiming to land on the Moon in anticipation for future crewed landings. First launch of a live payload from LC-36B. First and only to date spacecraft to visited by astronauts on another celestial object, being visited by Apollo 12 in 1969 to demonstrate the feasibility of making a moonbase.
13	5	8 September 1967	07:57	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	Surveyor 5		Part of the Surveyor program, aiming to land on the Moon in anticipation for future crewed landings. First Atlas SLV launch from LC-36.
14	6	7 November 1967	07:39	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	Surveyor 6		Part of the Surveyor program, aiming to land on the Moon in anticipation for future crewed landings.
17	7	7 December 1968	08:40	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	OAO-2		Part of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory series of space telescopes. First ever successful launch of a space telescope.
19	8	27 March 1969	22:22	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	Mariner 7		Part of the Mariner program, aiming at exploring Mars.
21	9	30 November 1970	22:40	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	OAO-B		Part of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory series of space telescopes. Payload fairings failed to separate, causing failure to reach orbit.
24	10	30 May 1971	22:23	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	Mariner 9		Part of the Mariner program, aiming at exploring Mars. Became the first ever satellite to enter orbit of another planet.
26	11	23 January 1972	00:12	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	Intelsat IV F4
28	12	13 June 1972	21:53	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	Intelsat IV F5
29	13	21 August 1972	10:28	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3C / Centaur-D	OAO-3		Part of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory series of space telescopes.
30	14	6 April 1973	02:11	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1A	Pioneer 11		Part of the Pioneer program, aimed at exploring Jupiter and Saturn. First spacecraft to visit Saturn, and second spacecraft to reach solar escape velocity.
32	15	3 November 1973	05:45	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1A	Mariner 10		Part of the Mariner program, aiming at exploring Venus and Mercury. First spacecraft to visit Mercury and first spacecraft to take pictures of Venus from space. Final mission of the Mariner program.
33	16	21 November 1974	23:43	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1A	Intelsat IV F8
36	17	26 September 1975	00:17	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat IVA F1
37	18	29 January 1976	23:56	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat IVA F2
39	19	22 July 1976	22:04	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Comstar D2
41	20	12 August 1977	21:47	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	HEAO-1		Part of the HEAO Program, space telescopes designed to observe x-ray astronomy.
43	21	7 January 1978	00:15	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat IVA F3
45	22	31 March 1978	23:36	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat IVA F6
47	23	29 June 1978	22:24	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Comstar D3
49	24	13 November 1978	05:24	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Einstein Observatory		Part of the HEAO Program, space telescopes designed to observe x-ray astronomy.
51	25	20 September 1979	05:28	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	HEAO-3		Part of the HEAO Program, space telescopes designed to observe x-ray astronomy.
54	26	6 December 1980	23:31	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V F-2
56	27	23 May 1981	22:42	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V F-1
58	28	15 December 1981	23:35	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V F-3
60	29	28 September 1982	23:17	Atlas-Centaur	Atlas SLV-3D / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V -505		Final Atlas SLV launch from LC-36B.
62	30	9 June 1984	23:03	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V -509		Maiden flight of the Atlas G. Centaur LOX tank ruptured during coasting phase, leading to loss of rocket.
63	31	22 March 1985	23:55	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V -510
64	32	30 June 1985	00:44	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V -511
65	33	28 September 1985	23:17	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	Intelsat V -512
66	34	5 December 1986	02:30	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	USA-20		Part of the Fleet Satellite Communications System for the United States Navy.
67	35	26 March 1987	21:22	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	FLTSATCOM-6		Part of the Fleet Satellite Communications System for the United States Navy. Launched during a thunderstorm and was struck by lightning, damaging guidance and causing an erroneous pitch maneuver that led to vehicle breakup.
68	36	25 September 1989	08:56	Atlas G	Atlas G / Centaur-D1AR	USA-46		Part of the Fleet Satellite Communications System for the United States Navy. Final flight of the Atlas G.

Atlas I, II, and III

All flights before 1994 operated by General Dynamics, from 1994 to January 1995 by Martin Marietta, and since March 1995 by Lockheed Martin.