Prepare for Launch

September 02, 2025
By: Larry Trojak

The push to the stars continues to grow at a breakneck pace, with nearly a dozen major aerospace entities currently having a presence at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) alone. While NASA; Elon Musk’s SpaceX; the Boeing/Lockheed-Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA); and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin are familiar to the general public, other, newer entities are also staking a claim to KSC’s valuable and vaunted launch property.

Companies like Relativity Space, Phantom Space, Vaya Space, ABL Space Systems and Astra have either already launched or are set to do so soon, making KSC’s launch complexes a hot commodity. One of those, the historic Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) is simultaneously undergoing demolition and construction to make it ready for Stoke Space’s future launch program.

Heading up the demo effort is Melbourne, Florida-based Frank-Lin Services of Brevard, which, despite challenges ranging from a tight timeline to a congested worksite to dealing with the protection of endangered species, is helping bring Pad 14 into the 21st century.

Site of Historic Proportions

Though Kennedy Space Center is rife with places holding historical aerospace significance, perhaps none can surpass that of LC-14. Built in 1956, it consisted of a launch stand, launch pad building, ramp, blockhouse and the underground infrastructure needed to support it. But between June of 1957 and November 1961, it was the site of all of NASA’s manned and unmanned Atlas launches, culminating in the agency’s Mercury program, which saw astronaut John Glenn become the first American to orbit the Earth.

“Like every job we’ve done at KSC, you can’t help but be impressed by what’s transpired here,” says Pete Charamut, Frank-Lin’s president. “Coming into the job site, you are greeted by a number of plaques and a 14-foot ‘Mercury 7 Monument’ commemorating the events that LC-14 brought to the world. None of the activity currently taking place at KSC would be possible without the tests and flights that launched from this location.”

Deactivated in 1967 at the completion of the program, LC-14 sat idle for almost a decade until 1976, when the service tower was demolished by a U.S. Army demolition team. In 2023, it was reallocated to Stoke Space, which has a shared-use agreement to maintain the museum that was established in the on-site blockhouse. The site will soon fully come to life again as Stoke constructs a new pad and the infrastructure needed to launch its own satellite payload rockets.

Where There’s (No) Smoke

Before that rebirth can occur, however, Charamut and his crew of 12 must complete the demolition of the remnants of LC-14’s previous existence, much of which is subsurface demo. Work began in October 2024, starting with 33 acres of land clearing and subsequent brush burning.

“There is always concern when burning, particularly in light of the fires out west,” Charamut says. “But we’ve done enough projects for KSC that fire officials know we have the expertise to get it done safely. We constructed a sizeable trench, which we’ve been continually filling with debris and burning with a Trench Burner from Air Burners.”

In addition to keeping the debris contained, he said the unit’s forced air technology speeds up the burn while minimizing smoke. “It also allows us to continue to burn while demo takes place. It’s been a great solution for us.”

Beneath the Surface

The demolition facing Frank-Lin included the launch base as well as most of the subsurface infrastructure. While some of the material, including an explosion-proof room, was downsized using a pair of hydraulic hammers — a Hurricane THB12000 mounted on a Komatsu PC 490 and a Gorilla GXS135 on a PC 210 — Charamut says the lion’s share of the processing was done with a pair of Genesis LXP 400s mounted on Komatsu PC 490s.

“That included all of the communication and electrical duct banks, the test stand area, the launch loft, deluge systems, miles of pipes, underground vaults and a pair of blast walls that were once used to test rocket engines. The footers for the blast walls were bigger than a small cargo container in width and depth. Likewise, the duct banks — concrete structures that contained a series of PVC pipes with cabling and piping inside — were massive. We had the LXP 400s on those for some time, but there’s very little that tool can’t handle.”

He adds that the LXPs were also called on to demo a rail system that once moved the Atlas rockets to and from the pad.  The rails themselves were nothing of a challenge. Since they weren’t being recycled as #1 scrap, Charamut’s operator simply used the LXP to cut the rail short enough to fit into a trailer dump. The foundation that supported them, however, ran extremely deep, was thick with rebar and extended for more than 900 feet. 

“Our LXPs — each equipped with concrete cracker jaws — allow for simultaneous processing of concrete and the rebar inside,” Charamut says. “The area was also riddled with concrete-filled pilings, which we knew were deeply embedded. I personally got on to one of those pilings and, using the 490, pulled and pulled until I finally got it out. It was 60 feet long; that’s how deep they had to go to hit bedrock. Luckily for us, Stoke only needed us to terminate them at a depth of -6.”

Man vs. Nature

According to Charamut, they had planned to be out of the project fairly quickly, but a series of more than a half dozen change orders has kept them working months longer.

“The changes were really unavoidable,” he says. “The major problem is that no one was sure exactly what we’d find in the ground. We are working off a set of as-built blueprints that were done in 1957 — almost 70 years ago. So many of the things found on the print have, in reality, been moved, modified or eliminated. Hence the change orders.”

Because LC-14 is situated in the Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge, home to a number of threatened and endangered species such as the eastern indigo snake, gopher tortoise, wood stork and southeastern beach mouse, work can be — and is — impacted by the presence of those creatures.

“I won’t deny that we’ve had some environmental challenges with animals, particularly gopher turtles,” Charamut says. “That initially caused some delays in the land clearing facet of the job. From an environmental standpoint, this is a highly sensitive area. Even the concrete crews have to use special lighting during their nighttime pours to avoid disorienting turtles during nesting. So, as work progresses, we still have areas that are cordoned off until things get resolved. It’s the nature of the business here.”

A Nice Recovery

While debris from NASA projects can sometimes present concerns about the purity of the material and possible adverse environmental effects, such was not the case at LC-14. As a result, more than 12,000 tons of concrete, after being processed with the LXPs and further downsized using a Genesis GMP 50D Mechanical Pulverizer on a Komatsu PC-290, will be run through a crusher and used for road base on-site. 

“In addition to the concrete, we will be recovering nearly 17 tons of copper, nine tons of sheet iron, 170 tons of unprepared ferrous metals, 103 tons of rebar and 168 tons of heavy metals,” Charamut says. “Not much is going to landfill at all. It’s important to add that, in addition to all the demo we’ve performed, we were also contracted to build a pad for a tank farm to hold the liquid oxygen, which will be used as the rocket’s propellant. For that, we brought in 15,000 yards of dirt and, using a pair of Komatsu dozers — a D-51i and a D-39i, each equipped with Topcon 3D machine control — created the pad in short order.”

Close Quarters

Despite the magnitude of the job, Charamut says the challenges were few and more than manageable. Not surprisingly, the most formidable one was time.

“Obviously, an organization like Stoke wants to be up and launching as soon as possible, so the pressure is there to get our facet of the job done quickly and safely,” he says. “To do that, we pulled equipment and personnel from two other jobs that were wrapping up and brought them here. At peak, we have eight excavators performing a wide range of tasks, from excavation to demo to feeding the burn pit. There are trades already pouring pads and installing pilings while we are still demoing, so things can get a bit tight. But it’s all been good so far and, barring any more changes, it looks like we will be out of here shortly. That’s testimony to the crew we have companywide and the technology that continually helps us be our best. We’re excited to see LC-14 entering this new and exciting phase of service to the aerospace industry and proud to have been a part of it.”