page_title: Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority
section_title: Facilities
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority / Facilities
caption_attribution_description: English: LADEE Ready for Launch - In an attempt to answer prevailing questions about our moon, NASA is making final preparations to launch a probe at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The small car-sized Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky. A thorough understanding of these characteristics of our nearest celestial neighbor will help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as large asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of outer planets.
context_page_description: The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, also known as Virginia Space, was created by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1995 to manage, promote, and develop commercial spaceflight activity within the Commonwealth in the name of states’ rights. Virginia Space owns and operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia and an office in Norfolk, Virginia.
context_section_description: The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has two active launch pads. A third is actively under construction and is projected to be finished in Fall, 2019.
  Launch pad 0A (LP-0A) was built for the Conestoga rocket, which made its only flight in 1995.
  The launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008, and has now been rebuilt for use by the Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Antares.
  The pad modifications for Antares included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility for launcher/payload mating and a wheeled transporter/erector that will "roll out and erect the rocket on its launch pad about 24 hours prior to launch".
  The facility suffered significant damage during the 28 October 2014 Antares launch failure, according to NASA officials in the immediate aftermath.
  The State of Virginia is seeking help from its two US Senators to obtain Federal funding for rebuilding the pad. Preliminary estimates for rebuilding the pad indicate the cost should be no more than US$20 million. By May 2015, that estimate had been revised down to US$13 million and repairs were expected to be completed by September or October 2015 with the next planned launch in March 2016. On September 30, 2015, the spaceport announced repairs on pad 0A had been completed. The launch pad resumed flight operations with the successful Cygnus CRS OA-5 mission on October 17, 2016.
  Launch pad 0B (LP-0B) became operational in 1999, and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004.
  It remains active, and is currently used by Minotaur rockets. Additionally, Vector Space Systems announced on October 19, 2017 that their upcoming Vector-R rocket will be conducting three launches in the next two years, with an option for 5 additional launches, from a mobile launcher at pad 0B.
  In October 2018, Virginia Space announced the construction on MARS Launch Pad 0C (also known as LP-0C or LC-2) and an associated integration facility for use by Rocket Lab for their Electron rocket. The design is largely based on the company's  Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand. The first launch from this new launch complex is currently scheduled for the two-quarter 2020.
caption: The launch pad 0B with Minotaur V rocket in September 2013.
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