Bandar antariksa

Sebuah pelabuhan angkasa atau pusat peluncuran luar angkasa atau kosmodrom adalah tempat diluncurkannya pesawat luar angkasa. Umumnya sebuah pelabuhan angkasa harus mempunyai luas yang cukup besar agar jika sebuah roket meledak ia tak akan membahayakan nyawa manusia di sekitar lokasi peluncuran.

Roket Bumper V-2 yang diluncurkan di pelabuhan angkasa Cape Canaveral, Florida pada tanggal 24 Juli 1950. (NASA)

Lokasi yang lebih disukai biasanya terletak di dekat katulistiwa ke arah timur agar dapat memanfaatkan kecepatan rotasi Bumi secara maksimum, dan merupakan orientasi yang baik untuk menuju sebuah orbit geostasioner. Selain itu, hal ini meningkatkan rasio massa terhadap orbit. Untuk orbit-orbit kutub atau Molniya, aspek-aspek ini tidak berlaku. Untuk keselamatan, sebuah jalur peluncuran di atas air atau tanah kosong sangatlah penting.

Beberapa pelabuhan angkasa

Amerika Utara

• • Cape Canaveral, di Pulau Merritt, Florida
  • Pusat Luar Angkasa Kennedy, juga di Pulau Merritt, Florida
  • Markas Angkatan Udara Vandenberg, Kalifornia
  • Kompleks Peluncuran Kodiak, Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
  • Bandara Meadows Field, Bakersfield, Kalifornia
  • Pelabuhan Angkasa Mojave, Mojave, Kalifornia
  • Pelabuhan Angkasa Oklahoma, Burns Flat, Oklahoma
  • Pelabuhan Angkasa Southwest Regional, Upham, New Mexico

Amerika Selatan

• • Alcantara, Maranhão, Brasil
  • Centre Spatial Guyanais di Kourou, Guyana Perancis

Asia

• • Kosmodrom Baykonur, Tyuratam, Kazakstan
  • Kosmodrom Plesetsk, Rusia
  • Pusat Peluncuran Satelit Jiuquan, Cina
  • Pusat Peluncuran Satelit Taiyuan, Cina
  • Pusat Peluncuran Satelit Xichang, Cina
  • Pusat Luar Angkasa Tanegashima, Pulau Tanegashima, Jepang
  • Pusat Luar Angkasa Uchinoura, Jepang
  • Pelabuhan Angkasa Pulau Christmas, Australia

Laut terbuka

• • San Marco Platform

Album

• Pelabuhan angkasa
• 
  An aerial view of the launch pads of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.
• 
  Sea Launch launch plattform "Odyssey" in its home port at Long Beach, California (April 17, 2004)
• 
  Ocean Odyssey (Sea Launch), names painted out, at graving dock, Esquimalt, BC after explosion.
• 
  Tanegashima Space Center
• 
  Launch of H-IIA Flight 11. A rocket takes off in the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan.
• China Xichang Satellite Center; The launch of Tianlian I-01 satellite (a Data Relay & Tracking Satellite)
  China Xichang Satellite Center; The launch of Tianlian I-01 satellite (a Data Relay & Tracking Satellite)
• The main control center of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, P.R.China
  The main control center of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, P.R.China
• 
  Chinese Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
• 
  Ariane 42P rocket with the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite (Kourou, August 10, 1992) (NASA)
• 
  Ariane 4 Launch Site
• 
  Japanese M-V rocket with Astro-E satellite in Uchinoura Space Center, Japan
• 
  Kennedy Space Centre, Florida - Space Shuttle Discovery launches at the beginning of STS-60, the first mission in the Shuttle-Mir
• 
  Kennedy Space Center - Aerial View of Launch Complex 39
• The STS-36 vehicle and launch platform were rolled out to Launch Pad 39A on January 25, 1990, after the shortest stay in the Vehicle Assembly Building since return-to-flight.
  The STS-36 vehicle and launch platform were rolled out to Launch Pad 39A on January 25, 1990, after the shortest stay in the Vehicle Assembly Building since return-to-flight.
• 
  Scout-B1 rocket with Ariel 5 satellite on the San Marco launch platform in Oct. 1974 (NASA)
• 
  Cyclone-3 rocket launching Meteor-3 satellite (Plesetsk, Aug. 15, 1991)
• 
  U-2 Photograph of the Tyuratam (Baikonur) launch pad of the R-7 missile.
• 
  The Soyuz rocket is erected into position at the launch pad March 24, 2009, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
• Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, CA.
  Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, CA.
• 
  EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA (CA) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)
• 
  Rogers "Dry" Lake at Edwards AFB isn't always dry. Shuttle landing strip and the world's largest compass rose are visible.

Lihat pula

• Lokasi peluncuran roket