Launch Services Program Launch Sites
Kennedy Space Center
Located along Florida’s central Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Miami, our nation’s premiere spaceport is ideal for spacecraft requiring a west-east or equatorial orbit.
Learn More![A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft onboard from Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/nhq202112090001.jpg?w=1024)
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Located along Florida’s central Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Miami, our nation’s premiere spaceport is ideal for spacecraft requiring a west-east or equatorial orbit.
Learn More![A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard is seen in this 2 minute and 30 second exposure photograph as it launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the first spacecraft to study Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids. Like the mission's namesake – the fossilized human ancestor, "Lucy," whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity's evolution – Lucy will revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/lucy-launch.jpg?w=1024)
Vandenberg Space Force Base
Located along California’s central coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Vandenberg is preferred for spacecraft requiring a north-south, or polar, orbit.
Learn More![NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft is seen atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dart.jpg?w=1024)
Wallops Flight Facility
Operated by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Wallops is NASA’s principal facility for suborbital research programs.
Learn More![The Antares rocket launching from Pad-0A with a bright white plume underneath against a mostly clear blue sky. A large water tower is stands to the left.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/201309180011hq.jpg?w=1024)
Reagan Test Site – Kwajalein Atoll
The Kwajalein site is located between Hawaii and Australia and is used for missions requiring equatorial orbits and low inclinations.
Learn More![Orbital Science Corp.'s L-1011 aircraft "Stargazer" flies over the runway on Kwajalein Atoll.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ksc-2012-3312orig.jpg?w=720)
Additional Launch Sites
Additional launch sites specific to LSP’s VADR launches include Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand; and SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Kodiak Island, located in Alaska, is considered one of the best locations in the world for polar launch operations, providing a wide launch azimuth and unobstructed downrange flight path.
Learn More![Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand at 9:00 p.m., carrying two TROPICS CubeSats for NASA.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/tropicslaunch_0.jpg?w=985)