The changes to Vandenberg are not limited to launching additional rockets. The authorization gives SpaceX the green light to redevelop Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) to support the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions. SpaceX plans to demolish the unnecessary structures of SLC-6 (pronounced “Slick 6”) and build two new landing platforms for Falcon boosters on a cliff overlooking the Pacific, just south of the platform.
SpaceX currently operates from a single pad at Vandenberg—Space Launch Complex 4-East (SLC-4E)-a few kilometers north of location SLC-6. The SLC-4E slot is not configured to launch the Falcon Heavy, an upgraded rocket with three Falcon 9 boosters bolted together.
SLC-6, surrounded by hills on three sides and flanked by the ocean to the west, is no stranger to big rockets. It was first developed for the Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in the 1960s, when the military wanted to put a mini space station in orbit so astronauts could spy on the Soviet Union. Crews prepared the complex to launch military astronauts atop Titan rockets, but the Pentagon canceled the program in 1969 before anything was actually launched from the SLC-6.
NASA and the Air Force later modified the SLC-6 to launch space shuttles. The space shuttle Business was vertically stacked to the SLC-6 for fit checks in 1985, but the Air Force abandoned the Vandenberg-based shuttle program after the Challenger accident in 1986. The launch facility remained virtually inactive for nearly two decades until Boeing, then United Launch Alliance, took over the SLC-6 and began launching Delta IV rockets there in 2006.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise stands vertically at Space Launch Complex-6 in Vandenberg. NASA used the shuttle to check its fit on site, but it was never launched from California.
Credit: NASA
ULA launched its latest Delta IV Heavy rocket from California in 2022, leaving the future of the SLC-6 in question. ULA’s new rocket, the Vulcan, will be launched from another platform in Vandenberg. Space Force officials chose SpaceX in 2023 to take over the platform and prepare it for launch of the Falcon Heavy, which has the cargo capacity to carry the most massive military satellites into orbit.
No big rush
Progress at SLC-6 has been slow. It took almost a year to prepare the environmental impact study. In reality, there is no real urgency to bring the SLC-6 online. SpaceX does not have any Falcon Heavy missions from Vandenberg in its order book, but the company is part of the Pentagon’s launch provider lineup. To become a member of the club, SpaceX must have the ability to launch the Space Force’s heaviest missions from military spaceports in Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral, Florida.
