Prepping for Starship, SpaceX is about to demolish one of ULA’s launch pads

Summary

In their place, SpaceX plans to build two 600-foot-tall (180-meter) Starship launch integration towers within the 230-acre confines of SLC-37. Tied at the hip The Space Force's willingness to turn over a piece of prime real estate at Cape Canaveral to SpaceX helps illustrate the government's close relationship with—indeed, reliance on—Elon Musk's space company. The breakdown of Musk's relationship with President Donald Trump has, so far, only spawned a war of words between the two billionaires. But Trump has threatened to terminate Musk's contracts with the federal government and warned of "serious consequences" for Musk if he donates money to Democratic political candidates. Musk said he would begin decommissioning SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the sole US vehicle ferrying astronauts to and from orbit, before backing off the threat last week. NASA and the Space Force need SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft and its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets to maintain the International Space Station and launch the nation's most critical military satellites. The super heavy-lift capabilities Starship will bring to the government could enable a range of new missions, such as global cargo delivery for the military and missions to the Moon and Mars in partnership with NASA. Fully stacked, the Starship rocket stands more than 400 feet tall. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX already has a "right of limited entry" to begin preparations to convert SLC-37 into a Starship launch pad. A full lease agreement between the Space Force and SpaceX is expected after release of the final Environmental Impact Statement. The environmental approval process began more than a year ago with a notice of intent, followed by studies, evaluations, and scope meetings that fed into the creation of the draft EIS. Now, government officials will host more public meetings and solicit public comments on SpaceX's plans through late July. Then, sometime this fall, the Department of the Air Force will issue a final EIS and a "record ...