Spaceport

A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching (or receiving) spacecraft, by analogy to seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories.[1] However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named 'spaceports'. Space stations and proposed future bases on the moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys.[2]

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see Spaceport (Seacombe), Launch Complex (disambiguation), Missile launch facility, and List of rocket launch sites.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome (Gagarin's Start launch pad)

The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range. The range includes the area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches.[3]

Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex, which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles. (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common.

A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or HTVL winged launch vehicles.

History
Peenemünde, Germany - where the "V-2", the first rocket reaching space in June 1944 was launched

The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde, Germany in 1944 during World War II.[4] After the war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km.[5]

The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan, started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight (Sputnik 1) in October 1957. The exact location of the cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR, although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades.[6]

The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved the first launch of a human into space (Yuri Gagarin) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start. Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still widely used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan.

In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of unmanned flights, as well as the early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center, was constructed, and achieved the first manned mission to the lunar surface (Apollo 11) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites.

The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, is the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator.

In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight.

Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally.

At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch.[7]

Placement considerations

Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of the Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit. For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply.

Advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not a driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed. The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain.

Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch.

A rocket launch site is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads.[8]

Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of the local view from 100 km (62 mi) altitude is also a factor to consider.

Rocket ranges

USA: Eastern Range, Western Range.

Space tourism

The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America, New Mexico.

The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed.[9][10]

Spaceports with achieved horizontal launches of humans to 100 km

The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from a horizontal runway. All the flights were Sub-orbital.

Spaceport Carrier aircraft Spacecraft Flights above 100 km Years
Edwards AFB,

California, USA

 B-52 X-15 2 flights (# 90-91) 1963
Mojave Air and Space Port,

California, USA

 White Knight SpaceShipOne 3 flights (# 15P-17P) 2004

Spaceports with achieved vertical launches of humans

The following is a table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than 100 km (62 mi) altitude). The sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch.

Spaceport Launch

complex

 Launcher Spacecraft Flights Years
Baikonur Cosmodrome,

Kazakhstan (Soviet and Russian flights)

 Site 1 Vostok (r) Vostok 1–6 6 Orbital 1961–1963
Site 1 Voskhod (r) Voskhod 1–2 2 Orbital 1964–1965
Site 1, 31 Soyuz, Soyuz-U Soyuz 1–40 † 37 Orbital 1967–1981
Site 1, 31 Soyuz-U, Soyuz-U2 Soyuz-T 2–15 14 Orbital 1980–1986
Site 1 Soyuz-U, Soyuz-U2 Soyuz-TM 2–34 33 Orbital 1987–2002
Site 1 Soyuz-FG Soyuz-TMA 1–22 22 Orbital 2002–2011
Site 1, 31 Soyuz-FG Soyuz TMA-M 1–20 20 Orbital 2010–2016
Site 1 Soyuz-FG Soyuz MS 1–9, 11–15 14 Orbital 2016–
Cape Canaveral AFS,

Florida, USA

 LC-5 Redstone Mercury 3–4 2 Sub-O 1961
LC-14 Atlas Mercury 6–9 4 Orbital 1962–1963
LC-19 Titan II Gemini 3–12 10 Orbital 1965–1966
LC-34 Saturn IB Apollo 7 1 Orbital 1968
Kennedy Space Center,

Florida, USA

 LC-39 Saturn V Apollo 8–17 10 Lun/Or 1968–1972
Saturn IB Skylab 2–4 3 Orbital 1973–1974
Saturn IB Apollo–Soyuz 1 Orbital 1975
Space Shuttle STS 1-135‡ 134 Orbital 1981–2011
Falcon 9 Crew Dragon Demo-2 1 Orbital 2020
Jiuquan SLC,

China

 Area 4 Long March 2F Shenzhou 5–7, 9-11 6 Orbital 2003–

† Three of the Soyuz missions were unmanned and are not counted (Soyuz 2, Soyuz 20, Soyuz 34).

‡ STS-51-L (Challenger) failed to reach orbit and is not counted. STS-107 (Columbia) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry).

Spaceports with achieved satellite launches

The following is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives the geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites.

Spaceport Location Years
(orbital)		 Launches
to orbit
or inter-
planetary		 Launch vehicles
(operators)		 Sources
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Baikonur/Tyuratam, Kazakhstan[11] Kazakhstan 1957- >1,000 R-7/Soyuz, Kosmos, Proton, Tsyklon, Zenit, Energia
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA[12] USA 1958- >400 Delta, Scout, Atlas, Titan, Saturn, Athena, Falcon 9
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA[13] USA 1959- >700 Delta, Scout, Atlas, Titan, Taurus, Athena, Minotaur, Falcon 9 [14]
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA[15] (see also MARS below) USA 1961-1985 19 Scout 6[16]+13[17]
Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia[18] Russia 1962-2008 85 Kosmos [18]
Hammaguir French Special Weapons Test Centre, Algeria[19] Algeria 1965–1967 4 Diamant A (France) Diamant
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia[20] Russia 1966- >1,500 R-7/Soyuz, Kosmos, Tsyklon-3, Rokot, Angara [20]
San Marco platform, Broglio Space Centre, Malindi, Kenya[21] Kenya 1967–1988 9 Scout (ASI and Sapienza, Italy) Broglio
Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA[12] USA 1967- >170 17 Saturn, 134 Space Shuttle, 42 Falcon 9, 3 Falcon Heavy Saturn, STS, F9
Woomera Prohibited Area, South Australia[22] Australia 1967, 1971 2 Redstone (WRESAT), Black Arrow (UK Prospero X-3) WRESAT, X-3
Uchinoura Space Center (Kagoshima), Japan[23] Japan 1970- 31 27 Mu, 3 Epsilon, 1 SS-520-5 [23] M, ε, S
Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana, France[24] French Guiana 1970- 261 7 Diamant, 227 Ariane, 16 Soyuz-2, 11 Vega see 4 rockets
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China[25] China 1970- 85 2 LM1, 3 LM2A, 20 LM2C, 36 LM2D, 13 LM2F, 3 LM4B, 5 LM4C, 3 LM11 See 8 rockets
Tanegashima Space Center, Japan[26] Japan 1975- 65 6 N-I, 8 N-II, 9 H-I, 6 H-II, 36 H-IIA see 5 rockets
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, India[27] India 1979- 75 4 SLV, 4 ASLV, 50 PSLV, 13 GSLV, 4 GSLV Mk III List SDSC
Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China[28] China 1984- 104 Long March: 6 LM2C, 5 LM2E, 11 LM3, 25 LM3A, 42 LM3B, 15 LM3C See 6 rockets
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China[29] China 1988- 62 Long March: 16 LM2C, 2 LM2D, 2 LM4A, 25 LM4B, 15 LM4C, 2 LM6 See 6 rockets
Palmachim Air Force Base, Israel[30] Israel 1988- 8 Shavit Shavit
various airport runways (B-52, Stargazer) various 1990- 39 Pegasus (Orbital Sciences Corporation) Pegasus
Svobodny Cosmodrome, Amur Oblast, Russia[31] Russia 1997–2006 5 Start-1 [31]
Delta class submarine, Barents Sea Barents Sea 1998, 2006 2 Shtil' (Russia) Shtil'
Odyssey mobile platform, Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean 1999–2014 32 Zenit-3SL (Sea Launch) Sea Launch
Pacific Spaceport Complex (Kodiak), Alaska, USA[32][33] USA 2001- 3 1 Athena, 2 Minotaur IV Kodiak
Yasny Cosmodrome (Dombarovsky), Orenburg Oblast, Russia[34] Russia 2006- 10 Dnepr Dnepr
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Virginia, USA[35] USA 2006- 12 5 Minotaur I, 6 Antares, 1 Minotaur V MARS
Omelek, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands Marshall Islands 2008-2009 2 Falcon 1 (USA) Falcon 1
Imam Khomeini Space Center, Iran[36][37] Iran 2009- 5 Safir Safir
Sohae Satellite Launching Station, North Korea North Korea 2012- 2 Unha-3 K3-U2[38][39]
Naro Space Center, South Jeolla, South Korea[40] South Korea 2013- 1 Naro-1 Naro-1
Vostochny Cosmodrome, Amur Oblast, Russia Russia 2016- 1 Soyuz-2 Vostochny
Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, China China 2016– 3 Long March: 1 LM5, 2 LM7 See 2 rockets
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, New Zealand New Zealand 2018– 10 Electron Electron (rocket)

Spaceports beyond Earth

Spaceports have been proposed for locations on the Moon, Mars, orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points, and at other locations in the solar system. Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition.[41] The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied the economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS).[42] Its analysis claimed that the first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on the launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space. The third phase would add a Node 3 spaceport on the Martian moon Phobos to enable refueling and resupply prior to Mars surface landings, missions beyond Mars, and return trips to Earth. In addition to propellant mining and refueling, the network of spaceports could provide services such as power storage and distribution, in-space assembly and repair of spacecraft, communications relay, shelter, construction and leasing of infrastructure, maintaining spacecraft positioned for future use, and logistics.[43]

gollark: Lua does not.
gollark: Easy to write in, I mean.
gollark: I mean, JS or Lua would probably be equally easy and less work.
gollark: They're both stupidly OP.
gollark: Indeed.

See also

References
  1. Roberts, Thomas G. (2019). "Spaceports of the World". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  3. Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station
  4. Dyson, Marianne J. (2007). Space and astronomy: decade by decade. Infobase Publishing. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8160-5536-4.
  5. Ernst Stuhlinger, Enabling technology for space transportation (The Century of Space Science, page 66, Kluwer, ISBN 0-7923-7196-8)
  6. Russian Space Web on Baikonur
  7. Grush, Loren (21 December 2015). "SpaceX successfully landed its Falcon 9 rocket after launching it to space". The Verge. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  8. Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight Archived 13 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 978-1-4683-1278-2
  9. Londin, Jesse (9 February 2007). "Space Law Probe: Virginia Leads The Way". blogspot.com. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  10. Boyle, Alan (13 June 2006). "Regulators OK Oklahoma spaceport - Suborbital test flights could begin in 2007, setting stage for tourists". NBC News. Retrieved 26 June 2006.
  11. Baikonur – astronautix.com Archived 2002-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Cape Canaveral - astronautix.com Archived 31 October 2003 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Vandenberg – astronautix.com Archived 2002-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
  14. Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, Sept. 21, 2016
  15. Wallops Island - astronautix.com
  16. Wallops Island 3 - astronautix.com
  17. Wallops Island 3A - astronautix.com
  18. Kapustin Yar – astronautix.com Archived 4 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  19. Hammaguira – astronautix.com Archived 2002-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Plesetsk - astronautix.com Archived 29 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  21. San Marco – astronautix.com
  22. Woomera LA5B – astronautix.com
  23. Uchinoura/Kagoshima – astronautix.com
  25. Jiuquan – astronautix.com
  26. Tanegashima – astronautix.com
  27. Sriharikota – astronautix.com
  28. Xichang – astronautix.com Archived 29 January 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  29. Taiyuan – astronautix.com Archived 27 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  30. Palmachim – astronautix.com
  31. Svobodniy – astronautix.com Archived 2002-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  32. Kodiak – astronautix.com Archived 7 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  33. Kodiak Readies for Quick Launch, Aviation Week, April 2010, accessed 26 April 2010. "Alaska's remote Kodiak Launch Complex is state-of-the-art, has a perfect mission record, and will soon be able to launch a satellite-carrying rocket within 24 hours of mission go-ahead."
  34. Dombarovskiy – astronautix.com Archived 18 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  35. Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport website
  36. Semnan – astronautix.com
  37. "Imam Khomeini Space Center | Facilities". NTI. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  38. "North Korea says it successfully launched controversial satellite into orbit". MSNBC. 12 December 2012. Archived from the original on 13 December 2012.
  39. "North Korea declares its rocket launch a success". RT. 12 December 2012.
  40. news.xinhuanet.com Archived 4 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  41. [Mendell, Wendell W. (1985). Lunar bases and space activities of the 21st century. Lunar and Planetary Institute. ISBN 0-942862-02-3.]
  42. http://www.oasisnext.com/, OASIS official website
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