A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term launch pad can be used to describe just the central launch platform, or t
Launch pad at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B on Merritt Island, Florida
Transport of Soyuz rocket to pad by train
Transport of Space Shuttle and MLP to pad on Crawler-transporter
SLC-40 with SpaceX Falcon 9 launch infrastructure. The four towers surrounding the rocket are lightning arresters, and acts like a giant Faraday cage
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport—and even more so cosmodrome—has traditionall
Launch pad
…structures, and a sound suppression system spraying large quantities of water may be employed. The pad may also be protected by lightning arresters. A spaceport typically includes multiple launch complexes and other supporting infrastructure. A launch pad is distinct from a missile launch facility (or missile…
The Baikonur Cosmodrome (Gagarin's Start launch pad)
Peenemünde, Germany, where the V-2, the first rocket to reach space in June 1944, was launched
STS115 Atlantis undock ISS edit 2