US Trends

where does the us launch space shuttles from

The United States launched all operational Space Shuttle missions from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, specifically from Launch Complex 39A and 39B on Merritt Island near Cape Canaveral.

Main shuttle launch site

  • All 135 Space Shuttle flights (from Columbia’s STS-1 in 1981 to Atlantis’s STS-135 in 2011) lifted off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
  • These launches used Launch Complex 39, with pads 39A and 39B originally built for the Apollo/Saturn V Moon missions and later adapted for the Shuttle.

Other planned or related sites

  • Vandenberg Air Force Base (now Vandenberg Space Force Base) in California was prepared as a West Coast Shuttle launch site for polar-orbit missions, but all Shuttle flights from there were canceled after the Challenger disaster and none ever launched from Vandenberg.
  • For landings, the Shuttle primarily returned to Kennedy Space Center, but alternative landing sites included Edwards Air Force Base in California and, once, White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

Context after the Shuttle era

  • Since the Shuttle’s retirement, the same Florida region (Kennedy Space Center and neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) remains the primary U.S. hub for crewed launches, now used by vehicles like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

TL;DR:
Operational U.S. Space Shuttles launched only from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at Launch Complex 39A and 39B near Cape Canaveral.

Information gathered from public data available on the internet and portrayed here.