Launch Complex 25

Overview

Systems

Other Programs

  • None

Cost: Not available

Launch Complex 25 Highlights

  • 8 August 1956 – Site research began
  • 1 March 1957 – Contract let for construction of a “ship motion simulator”
  • 19 March 1957 – Construction contract awarded for entire complex
  • December 1957 – Pad 25A completed with an access stand
  • January 1958 – Pad 25B completed with an access stand
  • Built to support the Navy’s Polaris submarine ballistic missile program. The blockhouse serves four pads. The blockhouse was extensively reinforced when the Poseidon Pads 25C and 25D were added in May 1968
  • 18 April 1958 to 2 October 1959 – Total of 19 Polaris FTV launched from Pad 25A (4 launches with only the first stage and 15 with two stages)
  • 14 August 1959 – First use of ship motion simulator. Pad 25B was initially built with an underground launch mechanism known as a “ship motion simulator” to simulate the roll and pitch of a submarine
  • 9 March 1960 to 5 December 1961 – Total of 16 Polaris A-1 launched from Pad 25A
  • 10 November 1960 to 5 March 1965 – Total of 14 Polaris A-2 launched from Pad 25A
  • 11 February 1963 to 3 July 1964 – Total of 11 Polaris A-3 launch from Pad 25A
  • 14 August 1959 to 2 August 1960 – Total of 8 Polaris from Pad 25B, one Polaris FTV and seven Polaris A-1
  • October 1961 – Ship motion simulator mothballed
  • September 1969 – Pads 25A and 25B dismantled
  • 19 September 1969 – Pads 25A and 25B sold for salvage
  • 1967 – Pads 25C and 25D built in for the larger Poseidon. Both pads had an access stand
  • 16 August 1968 to 29 June 1970 – Total of 16 Poseidon launched from Pad 25C
  • 18 January 1977 to 23 January 1979 – Total of 18 Trident launched from Pad 25C
  • 17 September 1969 – Only one launch from Pad 25D, a Poseidon
  • 1979 – Launch Complex dismantled
More Cape Canaveral Facilities
History Center Storyboard – Launch Complex 25