Biking Through Space Ruins – Space Launch Complex 16
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Many of my bike rides out to the launch complexes started at the Cape Cafeteria – located near the intersection of Hangar Road and NASA Parkway East – providing a quick ride down Heavy Launch Road and smack into the intersection of Launch Complex 19 and 16 – circled in red in the image below. (The image is courtesy of CapeCanaveralSpaceMuseum.org).
One of my favorite things to do when visiting Launch Complex 16 was riding a dirt road next to the Complex that takes you all the way out to the pristine and empty beaches of Cape Canaveral. Along the way you would encounter wildlife on the road and a view of the Blockhouses off in the distance. Below are several photos of the ride out to the beach, along with some historic photos of the Blockhouse and updated photos from 2011 before the Launch Complex was leased to Relativity Space for future launches.
Construction of Launch Complex 16 started in 1957 and the first Titan I Launch took place on December 12th, 1959. There was a total of 6 Titan I launches and 7 Titan II Launches. In January of 1965, the site was turned over to NASA to support static firing of the Apollo Service Module propulsion engine and Gemini crew processing.
In the early 1970’s the site was used for Pershing Launches and these continued until the last launch in October of 1983.
An interesting fact about Launch Complex 16 is that the site was used as the location of a trailer to suit up Gemini astronauts who launched from the adjacent LC-19. This also led to a roadway or “Freeway” that led from Complex 16 to Complex 19 known as the “Barton Freeway”. I’ll provide a link below to the interesting story and history of the Barton Freeway. And on several occasions, I located the now overgrown “Freeway” on my bike rides – linking these two historic launch sites.
As of today, Relativity Space is using the site for their 3D-printed rockets and has a 5-year multi-use contract for the launch site. In March 2023, Relativity Space successfully launched Terran 1, the world’s largest 3D printed object, into space.
The Trailer located at Complex 16 (Above) used for suit-up of the astronauts (Gemini 3) and then off to Complex 19 via the Barton FREEway for launch. (Images courtesy of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum).
Below are some images of Launch Complex 16 and Titan and Pershing launches. (Images courtesy of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum).
Barton Freeway image and link below:
The “Barton FREEway” entrance connecting Launch Complex 16 to Complex 19 as seen 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".