Apollo at the cape and Apollo at Kennedy Space Center

Apollo had two launch sites a few miles apart. The smaller Saturn rockets, the Saturn I and Saturn IB, flew from Launch Complexes 34 and 37 on Cape Canaveral itself, the Air Force station. The Saturn V that went to the Moon flew from Launch Complex 39 on Merritt Island, across the Banana River, on land NASA acquired for the lunar program and that became the Kennedy Space Center. The first crewed Apollo flight, Apollo 7, left from the cape.

Steppingstones

NASA built the moon rocket in steps, according to the 1984 National Historic Landmark nomination for the cape station. It developed three vehicles: the two-stage Saturn I, the intermediate Saturn IB, and the three-stage Saturn V. The first two were flight-tested from Complexes 34 and 37, which the nomination calls two of the largest and most advanced launch sites NASA built on the cape. Complex 34 dates from 1959 and Complex 37 from 1961, and between them they successfully launched 15 Saturn I and IB vehicles. The first Saturn launch was on October 27, 1961.

Merritt Island

In August 1961, the nomination says, a large section of Merritt Island, three miles west across the Banana River from the station, was officially selected as the launch center for the manned lunar landing program. The Army Corps of Engineers began negotiating for the land in 1961, the Space Force’s heritage history says, but NASA took over the effort in 1962 and acquired the area for itself. It was first called the Merritt Island Launch Area; the Kennedy Space Center name followed President Kennedy’s death.

Apollo 7 from Pad 34

Apollo flew its first crew from the cape. On October 11, 1968, Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walt Cunningham lifted off from Launch Complex 34 on a Saturn IB, from the pad where the Apollo 1 fire had happened. NASA notes that they were the first crew to ride a Saturn and the first three-person American spaceflight. The launch was run from the firing room in the Pad 34 blockhouse, and once the rocket cleared the tower, control passed to Mission Control in Houston. The fire is on our Apollo 1 page.

The Saturn V, the nomination notes, was launched from Complex 39 on Merritt Island. The cape’s pads served out the Saturn IB program; the Space Force’s table counts five Saturn IB launches from the cape, beginning on February 26, 1966. In 1972 NASA declared Complexes 34 and 37 excess, and dismantling began the same year.

Further Reading

• Live from Cape Canaveral by Jay Barbree