SpaceX announces end of crewed launches from Kennedy Space Center 39A

• Future SpaceX Dragon crewed missions will launch from Space Launch Complex 40.
• The change allows Pad 39A to be dedicated to Falcon Heavy and future Starship launches.
• Pad 39A has a historic legacy, having launched Apollo and Space Shuttle missions.

It’s the end of an era as SpaceX works to remove the crew access arm from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A — meaning no further Dragon crewed launches from the site that also launched space shuttles and the Apollo moon missions.

The launch pad has seen a pause in action due to SpaceX working to finalize the Starship tower and launch pad on the site.  Then on Wednesday, Feb. 4, a crane appeared next to the Falcon 9 launch tower, attaching to the crew access arm.

“For our manifest going forward, we’re planning to launch most of our Falcon 9 launches off of Space Launch Complex 40. That will include all Dragon missions going forward,” said Lee Echerd, senior mission manager of Human Spaceflight Mission Management at SpaceX during the Crew-12 prelaunch press briefing. “That will allow our Cape team to focus 39A on Falcon Heavy launches and hopefully our first Starship launches later this year.”

Installed by SpaceX after the shuttle program ended, the crew access arm is the platform that astronauts walk across to board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The company is contracted by NASA to launch astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew Program. Since 2020, all expect one SpaceX crewed launch has been from Pad 39A. This includes both NASA and private customer flights, such as Axiom Space.

"NASA’s Commercial Crew Program does not specify a specific launch pad for crew rotation missions and maintains a launch capability at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. If needed, SpaceX could still support NASA crewed launch operations from pad 39A in the future," a NASA statement sent to FLORIDA TODAY reads.

History of astronaut flights from NASA’s Pad 39A

Launch Pad 39A has a well-known history, as it was the pad that sent the Apollo 11 moon landing astronauts on their historic journey. Built for that Saturn V moon rocket, the first mission to launch from the site was the Apollo 8 mission in late 1968. The mission saw three astronauts orbit the moon, paving the way for the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.

In later years, the pad saw astronauts lift off on NASA’s space shuttles. The shuttle flew from the site in rotation with Pad 39B, which lies to the north. The last space shuttle to launch from the pad was Atlantis in July 2011.

NASA’s upcoming Crew-12 is set to be the second crewed mission to take off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which lies miles south of Kennedy Space Center. The only other crewed mission to take off from Launch Complex 40 was NASA’s Crew-9 back in late 2024.

Looking to the future, crewed flights could take off from Pad 39A again aboard SpaceX’s Starship. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stated that Starship will be able to carry upwards of 100 astronauts per flight. It's not there yet.

Starship has been undergoing uncrewed test flights out of Texas. Early flights from the Pad 39A tower are likely to be more test flights and purely payload missions. There is no definite timeline on when astronauts will fly on Starship — or from which launch site it will be.

As for NASA’s role in Starship, the massive launch system is contracted to serve as the space agency’s Artemis III mission lunar lander. The plan is for a separately launched Starship to take two astronauts from the Orion spacecraft down to the moon's surface. That mission is slated to happen by 2028.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.