TIL Vandenberg Air Force Base got renamed.
Also, I'm pretty sure that one in Georgia doesn't actually exist.
Not only does it not exist, plans to build it were scrapped a year ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceport_Camden
So I'm pretty sure it doesn't have an FAA license.
On clear days you can see launches from Wallops along the eastern seaboard. If Apollo had launched from there they could have seen it from NYC.
I used to live in the mountains in Maryland and watched them all the time, and even saw the light from the Antares explosion.
For a second I thought these were places to escape the country from ... you know, for reasons.
People have certainly left the country at some of these sites. But they are (almost) always brought back so it isn't a great escape route.
They closed all the launch sites in Utah? They built the fuckin minuteman there
why are they mostly in the south but then there's just randomly one in alaska
Closer to the equator means less fuel to orbit because the Earth spins fastest at the equator so you don't have to add as much delta-v.
The Alaska one I'd bet is for military ops or maybe polar satellite installations.
The earth is widest at the equator and it spins along that axis, so it's easier / closer to get up into space.
Alaska probably just cause why not.
