The changes at Vandenberg are about more than launching more rockets. The approval gives SpaceX the green light to renovate Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) to support the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions. SpaceX plans to demolish unnecessary structures on SLC-6 (pronounced “Slick 6”) and build two new landing pads for Falcon launch vehicles on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, south of the pad.
SpaceX currently operates from one site in Vandenberg.— Space Launch Complex 4-Vostok (SLC-4E)– a few miles north of the SLC-6 location. The SLC-4E location is not intended to launch the Falcon Heavy, an upgraded rocket with three Falcon 9 boosters bolted together.
SLC-6, surrounded by hills on three sides and surrounded by the ocean to the west, I'm not new to big rockets. It was first developed for Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory program in the 1960s, when the military wanted to put a mini-space station into orbit so astronauts could spy on the Soviet Union. Crews prepared the complex to launch military astronauts on Titan rockets, but the Pentagon canceled the program in 1969 before an actual launch could take place from SLC-6.
NASA and the Air Force then modified SLC-6 to launch space shuttles. Space shuttle Enterprise was mounted vertically on SLC-6 for compliance testing in 1985, but the Air Force abandoned the Vandenberg shuttle program after Challenger An accident occurred in 1986. The launch complex remained largely dormant for nearly two decades until Boeing and then United Launch Alliance took over control of SLC-6 and began launching Delta IV rockets there in 2006.
The space shuttle Enterprise sits upright at Spaceport 6 at Vandenberg. NASA used the shuttle for on-site fitness testing, but it never launched from California.
Credit: NASA
ULA launched its latest Delta IV Heavy rocket from California in 2022, leaving the future of SLC-6 in doubt. ULA's new rocket, Vulcan, will launch from a different site at Vandenberg. In 2023, the Space Force selected SpaceX to take over control of the site and prepare it for the launch of the Falcon Heavy, which has the payload capacity to launch the most massive military satellites into orbit.
Without much haste
Progress on SLC-6 has been slow. It took almost a year to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement. In fact, there is no particular rush to put the SLC-6 into operation. SpaceX's contract portfolio does not include Falcon Heavy missions from Vandenberg, but the company is part of the Pentagon's launch supplier group. To become a member of the club, SpaceX must be able to launch the Space Force's toughest missions from the Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral military launch sites in Florida.
