Site of Apollo 11, Space Shuttle, and the world's highest launch cadence. Launch Complex 39A has hosted humans to orbit since 1969.
A launch site's latitude determines which orbits are achievable and at what fuel cost. Cape Canaveral at 28.5623°N sets the following constraints:
From 28.5623°N, Cape Canaveral can reach 4 Starlink inclination shells: 43°, 53°, 70°, 97.6° SSO (polar).
Trains launched to higher inclinations are visible from more of the world. A 97° SSO train from Cape Canaveral would be visible at virtually every latitude; a 53° train is visible from latitudes up to ±49° (primarily) — mostly tropical and subtropical regions. In the hours after launch — before satellites raise their orbits — a tight train of 20–60 bright dots crosses the sky roughly every 90 minutes. Use OrbitalNodes' Starlink tracker for exact train pass times.
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is located at 28.5623°N, 80.5774°W in Florida, USA. It is owned and operated by US Space Force / NASA. The site has conducted approximately 800 orbital launches since its first in 1958.
Current vehicles operating from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station include Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Atlas V, Vulcan. Primary customers are SpaceX, ULA, NASA, launching Starlink (28.5°), crew missions, GPS, commercial GEO.
At 28.5623°N, Cape Canaveral's minimum achievable inclination is 28.6° (due-east launch). The ISS at 51.6° is reachable with a dogleg manoeuvre. The site can reach orbits between roughly 29° and 98° inclination.
Yes — Cape Canaveral Space Force Station hosts an extremely high cadence of approximately 60 orbital launches per year. Viewing areas are open to the public for many launches. Rockets are often visible for several hundred kilometres after liftoff.
Satellites regularly launched from Cape Canaveral include Starlink (28.5°), crew missions, GPS, commercial GEO. The ISS was supplied or crew-launched from sites at similar latitudes. Use OrbitalNodes to track any visible satellite in real time.
Cape Canaveral at 28.5623°N was positioned to access the full range of low-Earth orbits including the ISS corridor. The site has been operational since 1958.
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