Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 34

LC-34

Mission Profile

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 (LC-34) was the primary launch pad for the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets, hosting the inaugural Saturn I launch on 27 October 1961 and 19 subsequent launches through 1968. On 27 January 1967, LC-34 was the site of the Apollo 1 fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch ground test, the worst disaster in NASA's crewed spaceflight history at that time. The pad is now a national historic landmark preserved in stabilized form with a memorial plaque at the flame trench level reading "Ad Astra Per Aspera" (To the stars through hardship), serving as both a monument to Apollo 1's crew and a reminder of the risks of human spaceflight.