A spaceport or cosmodrome (Russian: космодром) is a site for launching (or receiving) spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports. In recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have commonly been named spaceports. Space stations are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys.
The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is surrounded with large safety area named rocket range or missile range. The range includes the area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations, vessels, and aircraft are often located in the range to assess the progress of the launches.
Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex, which can be well-separated (for safety reasons) rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles. For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common.
A spaceport can also include runways for takeoff and landing of spacecraft equipped with wings.
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The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde, Germany during World War II.[1] The V-2 rockets had a maximum altitude of approximately 60 miles/100 kilometers.[2]
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 Kazakhstan, although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades.[3]
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 widely 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 unmanned flights, as well as the early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center, was constructed, and achieved the first manned mission to the lunar surface (Apollo 11) in July 1969. It has been 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 the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 4 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 Spaceport, 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.
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). Such launches also give a good orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit. For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply.
Altitude of the launch site is not a driving factor because most of the delta-v for a satellite launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed. The small gains from a few kilometers of extra altitude at the start does not usually off-set the ground transport problems in mountainous terrain.
Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which is not always ideal for satellite launches.
A rocket launch site is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to 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. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads.
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 100 km altitude is also a factor to consider.
The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed.[4][5]
The following is a table of spaceports and launch complexes with a documented achieved launch of humans to space (more than 100 km altitude). Spaceports that have only achieved human sub-orbital flights are listed at the end. Otherwise the sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch.
| Spaceport | Launch complex | Launcher | Spacecraft | Flights | Years | Operation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baikonur Cosmodrome,
Kazakhstan |
Site 1 | Vostok (rocket) | Vostok 1-6 | 6 Orbital | 1961–1963 | Governmental |
| Site 1 | Voskhod (rocket) | Voskhod 1-2 | 2 Orbital | 1964–1965 | Governmental | |
| Site 1, Site 31 | Soyuz (rocket) | Soyuz 1-40 † | 37 Orbital | 1967–1981 | Governmental | |
| Site 1, Site 31 | Soyuz (rocket) | Soyuz-T 2-15 | 14 Orbital | 1980–1986 | Governmental | |
| Site 1 | Soyuz (rocket) | Soyuz-TM 2-34 | 33 Orbital | 1987–2002 | Governmental | |
| Site 1 | Soyuz (rocket) | Soyuz-TMA 1-21 | 21 Orbital | 2002- | Governmental | |
| Site 1 | Soyuz (rocket) | Soyuz TMA-M 1-2 | 2 Orbital | 2010- | Governmental | |
| Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida (US) | LC5 | Redstone | Mercury 3-4 | 2 Sub-O | 1961-1961 | Governmental |
| LC14 | Atlas | Mercury 6-9 | 4 Orbital | 1962–1963 | Governmental | |
| LC19 | Titan II | Gemini 3-12 | 10 Orbital | 1965–1966 | Governmental | |
| LC34 | Saturn IB | Apollo 7 | 1 Orbital | 1968-1968 | Governmental | |
| Kennedy Space Center, Florida (US) | LC39 | Saturn V | Apollo 8-17 | 10 Lun/Or | 1968–1970 | Governmental |
| LC39 | Saturn IB | Skylab 2-4 | 3 Orbital | 1973–1974 | Governmental | |
| LC39 | Saturn IB | Apollo-Soyuz | 1 Orbital | 1975-1975 | Governmental | |
| LC39 | STS 1-135 ‡ | Space Shuttle | 134 Orbital | 1981-2011 | Governmental | |
| Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center,
China |
Area 4 (SLS) | Long March 2F | Shenzhou 5-7 | 3 Orbital | 2003- | Governmental |
| Edwards Air Force Base, California (US) | Runway | B-52 | X-15 90-91 | 2 Sub-O | 1963-1963 | Governmental |
| Mojave Spaceport, California (US) | Runway | White Knight | SpaceShipOne 15-17 | 3 Sub-O | 2004-2004 | Private |
† Three of the Soyuz missions were unmanned 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).
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 last column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites.
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