page_title: Kennedy Space Center
section_title: Launch Complex 48
hierarchical_section_title: Kennedy Space Center / Facilities / Launch Complex 48
caption_attribution_description: English: A render of the XS-1 Phantom Express launch vehicle at Launch Complex 48
context_page_description: The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and operate facilities on each other's property.
  Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from CCAFS, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
context_section_description: Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.
caption: A rendering of Boeing's XS-1 Phantom Express launch vehicle on LC-48
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