<P> Though the first Apollo flights, and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from CCAFS, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate . Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission . </P> <P> Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In - Situ Resource Utilization for off - Earth exploration . Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC - 39C) in 2015 . </P> <P> There are about 700 facilities grouped across the center's 144,000 acres . Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525 ft tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronaut crew quarters, and 3 - mile - long Shuttle Landing Facility . There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site . </P> <P> The military had been performing launch operations since 1949 at what would become Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center . </P>

Where is america's spaceship launching station situated