Launch Complex 18
Launch Complex 18 (LC-18) was a launch complex at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. First active during the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was rebuilt in the late 1970s to support the test programme for the Ares Mars Exploration Module (MEM).
The complex originally consisted of two pads (LC-18A and B) that were used by the US Navy to launch the Vanguard rocket and the US Air Force to test the PGM-17 Thor missile respectively, while both were later used to launch Scout rockets. LC-18A was decommissioned in 1965 while the last launch from LC-18B was in 1962.
Both pads were out of service until the late 1970s when they were taken in hand as part of the Ares Mars Exploration Module test programme. A $14mn rebuild (1978 dollars) saw the two existing pads and blockhouse demolished and the complex extended to the former LC-31 historically used to test Minuteman and Pershing ballistic missiles.
The rebuilt LC-18 included a single pad and service structure designed to support Super Joe: the rocket that would verify the entry, descent and landing system for the Ares MEM. Super Joe boosters were delivered to Port Canaveral by barge from their assembly site in Dade County, 400km south of the Cape, transported the last few miles to the launch site by truck and erected by gantry crane. A temporary laydown and storage area was built to the north west of the pad.
After the completion of the Ares test programme, Super Joe became the first stage of the Vesta I, which launched 8 times from LC-18 before retirement in 1995. The complex was mothballed in 1997, and the pad and service structure were levelled in 2001.
