Spaceport

A spaceport or cosmodrome (Russian: космодром) is a site for launching (or receiving) spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named 'spaceports'.

The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range. The range includes the area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches.

Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex, which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles. (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common.

A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or HTVL winged launch vehicles.

Spaceports with achieved human or satellite launches

• Baikonur Cosmodrome
• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA
• Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA
• Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
• Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia
• Edwards AFB, California, USA
• Hammaguir French Special Weapons Test Centre, Algeria
• Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia
• San Marco platform, Broglio Space Centre, Malindi, Kenya
• Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA
• Woomera Prohibited Area, South Australia
• Uchinoura Space Center, Japan
• Kourou Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana
• Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
• Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, India
• Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China
• Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
• Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China
• Palmachim Air Force Base, Israel
• Svobodny Cosmodrome, Amur Oblast, Russia
• Delta class submarine, Barents Sea
• Ocean Odyssey mobile platform, Pacific Ocean
• Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska, USA
• Yasny Cosmodrome (Dombarovsky), Orenburg Oblast, Russia
• Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Virginia, USA
• Mojave Air and Space Port, California, USA
• Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, Marshall Islands
• Semnan, Iran
• Sohae, North Korea