spaceport
{{short description|Location used to launch and receive spacecraft}}
{{redirect-several|dab=no|Eureka! Science + Discovery|List of launch complexes|Missile launch facility|List of rocket launch sites}}
{{Redirect|Space landing complex|the SpaceX facility|Landing Zones 1 and 2}}
{{Not to be confused with|Cosmodome}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
File:Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg (Gagarin's Start launch pad)]]
{{Spaceflight sidebar}}A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport—and even more so cosmodrome—has traditionally referred to sites capable of launching spacecraft into Earth orbit or on interplanetary trajectories.{{Cite journal|last=Roberts|first=Thomas G.|date=2019|title=Spaceports of the World|url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/spaceports-world|access-date=1 Jul 2020|website=Center for Strategic and International Studies|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807113653/https://www.csis.org/analysis/spaceports-world|url-status=live}} However, rocket launch sites for sub-orbital spaceflights are also sometimes called spaceports, especially as new and proposed facilities for suborbital commercial spaceflight are often branded as "spaceports." Space stations and proposed future lunar bases are also sometimes referred to as spaceports, particularly when envisioned as nodes for further interplanetary travel.{{Cite web|url=http://mars.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Moon-as-a-Spaceport/144266-19222|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141224105648/http://mars.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Moon-as-a-Spaceport/144266-19222|archive-date = 24 December 2014|title = Moon as a Spaceport - NASA's Mars Forum - by IdeaScale}}
Spaceports are evolving beyond traditional government-run complexes into multi-functional aerospace hubs, increasingly driven by private companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. A prominent example is Starbase, a private spaceport operated by SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas. Starbase serves as the primary development and launch site for Starship, a fully reusable spacecraft designed for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The facility includes rocket production, launch, and landing infrastructure, and in May 2025, it was officially incorporated as a municipality in Texas—marking the first time a spaceport has become its own city. Starbase is now both a spaceport and a small residential and industrial community, primarily supporting SpaceX operations.
The term rocket launch site refers more broadly to any facility from which rockets are launched. Such facilities typically include one or more launch pads, often surrounded by a safety buffer called a rocket range or missile range, which includes the area rockets are expected to fly over and where components may land. These sites may also include tracking stations to monitor launch progress.Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station
Major spaceports often feature multiple launch complexes, adapted for different launch vehicle types. For rockets using liquid propellants, storage and sometimes production facilities are necessary, while solid propellant operations often include on-site processing. Some spaceports also incorporate runways to support horizontal takeoff and landing (HTHL) or horizontal takeoff and vertical landing (HTVL) vehicles.
In January 2025, traffic congestion was reported at U.S. rocket-launch sites due to the rising number of launches, primarily from companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. Three sites in Florida and California currently handle most U.S. rocket launches.{{Cite web |last=Maidenberg |first=Roshan Fernandez and Micah |title=There’s a Traffic Jam Forming at U.S. Rocket Launchpads |url=https://www.wsj.com/science/space-astronomy/rocket-launch-pads-texas-california-c180c7e5?mod=science_feat3_space-astronomy_pos1 |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}
History
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 141-1880, Peenemünde, Start einer V2.jpg, Germany, where the V-2, the first rocket to reach space in June 1944, was launched]]
The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde, Germany in 1944 during World War II.{{Cite book |title=Space and astronomy: decade by decade |first=Marianne J. |last=Dyson |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8160-5536-4 |page=95}} After the war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km.Ernst Stuhlinger, Enabling technology for space transportation (The Century of Space Science, page 66, Kluwer, {{ISBN|0-7923-7196-8}})
The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan, started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight (Sputnik 1) in October 1957. The exact location of the cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR, although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades.{{Cite web|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur.html|title=Baikonur Cosmodrome (NIIP-5/GIK-5)|website=www.russianspaceweb.com|access-date=24 December 2010|archive-date=8 February 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030208011330/http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur.html|url-status=live}}
The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved the first launch of a human into space (Yuri Gagarin) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start. Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still frequently used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan.
In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of uncrewed flights, as well as the early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center, was constructed, and achieved the first crewed mission to the lunar surface (Apollo 11) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites.
The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, is France's spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator.
In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight.
Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally.
At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch.{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/21/10640306/spacex-elon-musk-rocket-landing-success |title=SpaceX successfully landed its Falcon 9 rocket after launching it to space |work=The Verge |first=Loren |last=Grush |date=December 21, 2015 |access-date=April 9, 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628014841/https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/21/10640306/spacex-elon-musk-rocket-landing-success |url-status=live }}
Location
Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of the Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit. For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply.
In principle, advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not a driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed. The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain.
Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch.
A rocket launch site is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to not inconvenience their inhabitants with noise pollution and other undesired industrial activity, as well as mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas, be it by staging or an in-flight failure. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads.{{Cite web|url=http://www.overlookpress.com/categories/spaceport-earth-the-reinvention-of-spaceflight.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150228/http://www.overlookpress.com/categories/spaceport-earth-the-reinvention-of-spaceflight.html |url-status=dead |title=Overlookpress.com|archive-date=13 January 2018|website=www.overlookpress.com}}
Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of the local view from {{convert|100|km|abbr=on}} altitude is also a factor to consider.
Space tourism
The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America, New Mexico.
The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed.{{cite news |url=http://spacelawprobe.blogspot.com/2007/02/virginia-leads-way.html |author=Londin, Jesse |title=Space Law Probe: Virginia Leads The Way |publisher=blogspot.com |date=9 February 2007 |access-date=28 April 2007 |archive-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822125221/http://spacelawprobe.blogspot.com/2007/02/virginia-leads-way.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13304491 |author=Boyle, Alan |title=Regulators OK Oklahoma spaceport - Suborbital test flights could begin in 2007, setting stage for tourists |publisher=NBC News |date=13 June 2006 |access-date=26 June 2006 |archive-date=30 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430194818/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13304491 |url-status=dead }}
With achieved vertical launches of humans
The following is a table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than {{convert|100|km|abbr=on}} altitude). The sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch.
| class="wikitable" |
| Spaceport
! Launch ! Launcher ! Spacecraft ! Flights ! Years |
|---|
| rowspan="10" | {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} {{flagicon|Russia}} {{flagicon|USSR}} Baikonur Cosmodrome{{Efn|The Baikonur Cosmodrome is located in Kazakhstan, but it is operated by Roscosmos, and previously by the Soviet space program.|name=Baikonur}}
| Site 1 | Vostok | Vostok 1–6 | style="text-align:right;"| 6 Orbital | 1961–1963 |
| Site 1
| Voskhod | Voskhod 1–2 | style="text-align:right;"| 2 Orbital | 1964–1965 |
| Site 1, 31
| Soyuz 1–40 † | style="text-align:right;"| 37 Orbital | 1967–1981 |
| Site 1, 31
| Soyuz | Soyuz 18a | style="text-align:right;"| 1 Sub-O | 1975 |
| Site 1, 31
| Soyuz-T 2–15 | style="text-align:right;"| 14 Orbital | 1980–1986 |
| Site 1
| Soyuz-TM 2–34 | style="text-align:right;"| 33 Orbital | 1987–2002 |
| Site 1
| Soyuz-FG | Soyuz-TMA 1–22 | style="text-align:right;"| 22 Orbital | 2002–2011 |
| Site 1, 31
| Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-M 1–20 | style="text-align:right;"| 20 Orbital | 2010–2016 |
| Site 1, 31
| Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS 1–9, 11–13, 15 | style="text-align:right;"| 13 Orbital | 2016–2019 |
| Site 1, 31
| Soyuz-2 | Soyuz MS 16–22, 24 | style="text-align:right;"| 8 Orbital | 2020– |
| rowspan="6" | {{flagicon|USA}} Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
| LC-5 | Redstone | Mercury 3–4 | style="text-align:right;"| 2 Sub-O | 1961 |
| LC-14
| Atlas | Mercury 6–9 | style="text-align:right;"| 4 Orbital | 1962–1963 |
| LC-19
| Titan II | Gemini 3–12 | style="text-align:right;"| 10 Orbital | 1965–1966 |
| LC-34
| Apollo 7 | style="text-align:right;"| 1 Orbital | 1968 |
| LC-41
| Atlas V | style="text-align:right;"| 1 Orbital | 2024– |
| LC-40
| Falcon 9 | style="text-align:right;"| 1 Orbital | 2024- |
| rowspan=4 | {{flagicon|USA}} Kennedy Space Center
| rowspan=4 | LC-39 | Saturn V | Apollo 8–17 | style="text-align:right;"| 10 Lun/Or | 1968–1972 |
| Saturn IB
| Skylab 2–4, Apollo–Soyuz | style="text-align:right;"| 4 Orbital | 1973–1975 |
| Space Shuttle
| STS 1-135‡ | style="text-align:right;"| 134 Orbital | 1981–2011 |
| Falcon 9
| style="text-align:right;"| 11 Orbital | 2020– |
| {{flagicon|China}} Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
| Area 4 | Shenzhou 5–7, 9–17 | style="text-align:right;"| 12 Orbital | 2003– |
| {{flagicon|United States}} Corn Ranch
| Launch Site One | style="text-align:right;"| 6 Sub-O | 2021– |
† Three of the Soyuz missions were uncrewed and are not counted (Soyuz 2, Soyuz 20, Soyuz 34).
‡ STS-51-L (Challenger) failed to reach orbit and is not counted. STS-107 (Columbia) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry).
Crewed Missions failed to reach Kármán line:
Soyuz T-10a (1983)
STS-51-L (1986)
Soyuz MS-10 (2018)
With achieved satellite launches
The following is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives the geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites.
With achieved horizontal launches of humans to 100 km
The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from a horizontal runway. All the flights were sub-orbital.
| class="wikitable" |
| Spaceport
! Carrier aircraft ! Spacecraft ! Flights above 100 km ! Years |
|---|
| {{flagicon|USA}} Edwards Air Force Base
| B-52 | X-15 | 2 | 1963 |
| {{flagicon|USA}} Mojave Air and Space Port
| 3 | 2004 |
Beyond Earth
Spaceports have been proposed for locations on the Moon, Mars, orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points, and at other locations in the Solar System. Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition.[{{Cite book |title=Lunar bases and space activities of the 21st century |first=Wendell W. |last=Mendell |publisher=Lunar and Planetary Institute |year=1985 |isbn=0-942862-02-3}}] The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied the economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS).http://www.oasisnext.com/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224165156/http://www.oasisnext.com/ |date=24 December 2014 }}, OASIS official website{{Dead link|date=February 2025}} Its analysis claimed that the first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in low Earth orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on the launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space. The third phase would add a Node 3 spaceport on the Martian moon Phobos to enable refueling and resupply prior to Mars surface landings, missions beyond Mars, and return trips to Earth. In addition to propellant mining and refueling, the network of spaceports could provide services such as power storage and distribution, in-space assembly and repair of spacecraft, communications relay, shelter, construction and leasing of infrastructure, maintaining spacecraft positioned for future use, and logistics.{{Cite web |url=http://isulibrary.isunet.edu/opac/doc_num.php?explnum_id=419 |title=OASIS Executive Summary Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space |access-date=7 December 2012 |archive-date=25 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125070228/http://isulibrary.isunet.edu/opac/doc_num.php?explnum_id=419 |url-status=live }}
Impact
Space launch facilities have been colonial developments and have also been impacting its surroundings by destroying or polluting their environment,{{cite web | last=Greshko | first=Michael | title=Rockets and rocket launches information and facts | website=Science | date=January 4, 2019 | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/rockets-and-rocket-launches-explained | access-date=July 25, 2024}}{{cite journal | last=Korpershoek | first=Karlijn | title=Accessibility to Space Infrastructures and Outer Space: Anthropological Insights from Europe’s Spaceport | journal=International Journal of the Commons | volume=17 | issue=1 | date=December 26, 2023 | issn=1875-0281 | doi=10.5334/ijc.1284 | doi-access=free | pages=481–491}} creating precarious cleanup situations.{{cite web | last=Greshko | first=Michael | title=Recycled Rocket Parts Are a Toxic Lifeline in Russia | website=Science | date=August 4, 2018 | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/photography-plesetsk-mezen-cosmodrome-rockets-space | access-date=July 25, 2024}}
See also
{{colbegin}}
- Launch pad
- List of human spaceflights
- List of rocket launch sites
- Office of Commercial Space Transportation (United States)
- Orbital spaceflight
- Range safety
- Spaceflight
- Sub-orbital spaceflight
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
{{colend}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Spaceports}}
- {{Wiktionary-inline}}
- [https://nmsu.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NMSGCBOK U.S. Spaceports Online Reference Guide]
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: [https://aerospace.csis.org/data/spaceports-of-the-world/ Spaceports of the World]
- [https://www.sheboyganwi.gov/spaceports-future-sea-to-space/ Sheboygan Spaceport’s Future – Sea to Space]
- HighBeam Research: [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-141058222.html?refid=hbr_nk Spaceflight of fancy: Lawmakers question fiscal feasibility of Southern New Mexico's proposed spaceport; supporters count on jobs.] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130125022830/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-141058222.html?refid=hbr_nk |date=25 January 2013 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150228/http://www.overlookpress.com/categories/spaceport-earth-the-reinvention-of-spaceflight.html Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150228/http://www.overlookpress.com/categories/spaceport-earth-the-reinvention-of-spaceflight.html Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight - categories | Overlook Press]
{{Spaceport}}
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