The Air Force will license launch complex 36 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., to the state of Florida for use as a commercial launch site for boosting commercial satellites into low-Earth orbit and beyond, Space Florida, the state’s public-private aerospace development organization, announced yesterday. The agreement, which is subject to completion of the environmental impact evaluation, boosts the state’s efforts to create a commercial launch zone on the US East Coast that will attract and sustain national and international aerospace business in Florida. The Air Force ceased using the complex in 2004.
The design of the launch facilities for the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are likely to undergo major revision, posing yet another challenge for the much-delayed and over-budget program to modernize the land-based component of America’s nuclear triad, officials said.