Launch Complex 20 – Biking through Space Ruins – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Back in 2011 I was attempting to get in as many bike rides as possible before the end of the Space Shuttle Program while facing the possibility of being laid-off from the Space Center after the last Shuttle mission in July of 2011.
On this particular bike ride I decided to visit to Launch Complex 20 and after that decided on a quick stop at Launch Complex 11 and 12 passing by several other Launch Complexes along the ride.
Launch Complex 20 consisted of 14 facilities, of these a total of four date to its original construction in 1959, two date to the period of use for Titan-III launches and the remainder of them date to the late 1980’s or later.
Launch complex 20 was the fourth complex built to support the Titan ballistic Missile program and a total of 16 Titan I missiles were launched from the site. In 1963 the site was modified to support the more advanced Titan III Launch vehicle.
In 1964 – the First Titan IIIA launch was completed and the last Titan III launch was in May of 1965.
Today the Launch Complex is home to Firefly Aerospace which launches the Alpha Commercial vehicle.
I decided to take photos in Black-n-White on this bike ride back in 2011.
After biking around Complex 20 we decided to head back East towards other Launch Complexes passing Launch Complex 14, home launch site to John Glenn. There is a nice area before you enter LC-14 with tributes to John Glenn and other historical launches at the entrance to the launch site. (Check out some other Posts about Launch Complex 14 on this site).
We kept biking East and wanted to poke around LC-11 and 12 and took some photos of the complexes in 2011.
About the Author and Photographer: Alden Pitard has over 40 years experience working in the Aerospace Industry at Cape Canaveral, The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Boeing locations throughout the country. He has supported the Space Shuttle Program, International Space Station, 787 Dreamliner and most recently the Artemis Program. During his time at "The Cape" he photographed a majority of the Launch Sites at KSC and Cape Canaveral. As the Space Shuttle program was coming to a close in 2011, the author decided to bike to all the Launch Complexes he could and capture the Space Center and Cape Canaveral as it was - thus "Biking through Space Ruins".