Where do NASA's rockets launch from?

Kennedy Space Center, on Merritt Island, has been NASA's base for crewed launches since Apollo. Launch Complex 39B has been rebuilt for the Space Launch System, the Moon rocket of the Artemis program, which first lifted off from there in November 2022. Launch Complex 39A, from which Apollo 11 and most of the space shuttles departed, is leased to SpaceX, which launches Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets carrying crews and cargo for the agency from it.

Next door, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, NASA buys launches from commercial providers: United Launch Alliance operates Space Launch Complex 41 (Atlas V and Vulcan) and SpaceX operates Space Launch Complex 40. Probes such as Perseverance and Europa Clipper lifted off from these pads.

Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, is used when the orbit needs to be polar or sun-synchronous, common for Earth observation satellites such as the Landsat series. Launching southward over the Pacific avoids flying over populated areas.

On Wallops Island, in Virginia, NASA operates its own facility for sounding rockets, balloons and small launchers; Antares rockets that resupply the International Space Station with the Cygnus spacecraft have lifted off from there, along with Minotaur and Electron vehicles.

Florida offers two advantages: a low latitude, which makes better use of Earth's rotation when launching eastward, and open ocean beneath the trajectory where spent stages fall without risk to anyone. That is why nearly all missions to equatorial orbit, the Moon or the planets depart from there, while the west coast is reserved for orbits that cross the poles.