Launch Sites
SpaceX plans to have four active launch sites by 2016 (now 2019)
Omelek Island operational between 2006 and 2009 for Falcon 1 (speculatively for BFS testing)
ACTIVE Launch sites
KSC Pad SLC-40 since 2010 for Falcon 9 V1.0 and V1.1 (Note SLC-40 is not active until reconstruction due to the pad mishap on 1 Sept 16)
Vandenberg AFB Cal SpaceX Launch Complex 4E, for polar orbits and test flights with no destination only. (Sept 2013 test flight of F9 V1.1)
Under Construction (Since Sept14)
Boca Chica Beach, Texas development "Phase1" started in 2014 originally for F9 and "Falcon Heavy" (first test launches were delayed until 2019 due to soil problems), Phase2 for future Rockets. Due to delays "Phase 1" has moved straight to "Phase 2" with a Starship (was BFR) launch mounting pad - now confirmed by Shotwell in Oct 17 and approved in 2019 by the FAA.
KSC Pad 39A 2013-17 refurbishment for F9, "Falcon Heavy" and future Rockets. 39A first launch was targeted for 26th Jan 2017 Falcon 9 for EchoStar 23(Now to be launched NET late Feb 2017) Pad 39A was ready the 1st launch being CRS-10 on 19th Feb of a Dragon mission to resupply the ISS.
Also SpaceX has tracking station Bermuda
Test sites in Texas McGregor rocket test facility and Spaceport America in New Mexico for re-usability testing.
A tracking station is due to be built at Texas.
VANDENBERG
SPACE LAUNCH COMPLEX 4E, VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE Lompoc, California
SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is used for launches to high inclination and polar orbits, and will support launches of the Falcon Heavy(FH).
There is now rumored of late 2019 that instead of upgrading Vandenberg for FH launches it is going to be shut down for 18 months to be rebuilt as a launch site for it new Starship rockets.
Vandenberg AFB SpaceX LAUNCH COMPLEX 4E (whilst under construction)
The advantage of Test flights is the proximity to Hawthorn where SpaceX currently builds all its rockets.
The first launch was in Sept 2013 for the successful test flight of the F9 V1.1 it also launched the Canadian Cascade Smallsat & Ionospheric Polar Explorer [CASSIOPE]
SpaceX plan to use Space Launch Complex 4-West launch pad (SLC-4W pad) at Vandenberg for the landing of the First stage of the F9 after SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches from pad 4E.
Space Launch Complex 4-West was last used for Titan 2 rocket launches in 2003.
SpaceX plans to construct a 200-foot by 200-foot square concrete landing pad, A similar design as for the 'Launch Complex 13' Cape Canaveral landing Pad.
Iridium Next constellation of 66-satellites include seven SpaceX launches between March 2016(launched 14 Jan 17) and late 2017 from Vandenberg as well as one launch of 2 of the satellites using the Russian/Ukraine Kosmotras’ Dnepr rocket.
SpaceX launches for Polar orbits can make use of NASA's "Alaska Satellite Facility Ground Station" for telemetry as with the Iridium-1 Mission on 14 Jan 2017 with a successful 1st stage Pacific ocean landing on the ship ‘Just Read The Instructions.’(JRTI).
SpaceX has filed for a permit with the FCC for a radio uplink to enable its first RTLS landing of a first stage Falcon 9 booster block 5 at Vandenberg Air Force Base for a mission NET September 2018.
The Landing area at Vandenburg is called LZ4 even though currently no LZ3 exists, First attempt to land there will be 7th Oct 2018.
KSC
From Kennedy Space Centre the Falcon 9 rocket takes off from Space Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Cape Canaveral.
Also nearby is the Falcon 1st stage refurbishment site at Port Canaveral
KSC Landing Zone 1
Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 just north of LC-40 was transitioned into "Landing Zone 1"(LZ1), a pad for reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket boosters.
SpaceX has constructed a 200-foot by 200-foot square concrete landing pad at Landing Zone 1 , surrounded by four 150-foot diameter “contingency” landing pads.
“The contingency pads would only be utilized in order to enable the safe landing of a single vehicle should last-second navigation and landing diversion be required,”. “ Currently there are no plans to utilize the contingency pads in order to enable landing multiple stages at LC-13 during a single landing event.”
LZ2 is the second landing Zone pad next to LZ1 for receiving the second booster returning from Falcon Heavy launches from 2018 onwards.
SpaceX also built a concrete and steel service structure to secure the Falcon rocket stage during post-landing operations. Post-flight operations would include venting leftover liquid oxygen propellant, draining any remaining RP-1 kerosene fuel, safing of on-board pyrotechnics from the rocket’s destruct mechanism, and lowering of the booster to a horizontal position for transport to a SpaceX facility.
Launch Complex 13 landing Pad
Up to 12 landings per year, including three recoveries during nighttime hours.
The first successful landing of a Falcon 9 1st stage at Landing Zone 1 was achieved on 22 December 2015.
F9 1st stage successful landing at LZ1
Daylight view of landed F9 1st stage
