Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5

LC-5

Mission Profile

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) was a critical early launch pad that hosted America's first ballistic missile tests and the launch of Explorer 1 — the first American satellite — on 31 January 1958 aboard a Juno I rocket. The pad also supported early Jupiter-C ballistic trajectory test flights and Alan Shepard's Mercury-Redstone 3 mission on 5 May 1961, America's first human spaceflight. LC-5 and the adjacent LC-6 are now preserved as the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, with the original blockhouses and launch structures maintained as outdoor exhibits. The Explorer 1 and Mercury-Redstone launches from LC-5 make it one of the most historically significant launch facilities in American space history.