Cape Canaveral has always been a cherished place for the US space program, having hosting some of the most important space missions stretching back decades. Today, however, some of the most iconic launch sites met their end thanks to some conveniently-placed high explosives. Just after sunrise this morning, the massive towers at Launch Complex 17 came tumbling down, marking the end of an era for at least a small part of United States spaceflight history.
As local news group Florida Today reports, the demolition went smoothly, with a pair of huge launch towers and gantries falling lopsided under their own weight. The site last hosted a launch seven years back, and now after over half a century of regular use and more than 300 launches, the hardware is finally being retired.
The demolition and subsequent cleanup is priced at around $2 million, and a number of contractors will now begin the challenging task of removing and recycling 1,700 tons of steel as well as a couple thousand tons of concrete.
“It’s kind of a poignant moment thinking back over all of the years of successful Delta missions,” Kennedy Space Center launch director Tim Dunn was quoted as saying. “It gives me a great feeling to remember all of the wonderful missions that I’ve been able to be a part of. At the same time, it is the final closure of the Complex 17 book, and with that, a little melancholy.
The site helped launch some incredibly important missions for NASA, including a trio of Mars rovers, countless satellites, and several orbiters that visited planets in our Solar System. But the demolition of the aging towers doesn’t mark the end of the Complex 17’s use, as spaceflight startup Moon Express is scheduled to take over and begin building its own infrastructure for tests and future launches.