Launch Complex 31/32 and 34

I was bored over the weekend and found myself looking up urban myths about the shuttle program. One in particular caught my eye about Challenger and it got me thinking: Where is Challenger now? So I did some further research and found out that it is buried about 80 feet deep in an decommissioned minute-man missile silo at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch Complex 31/32 to be exact. So I decided to take a trip Cape side after work and see what I could find.

Unfortunately when I got to LC 31/32 there was no sign of anything related to Challenger. No buildings, no visible placards of any kind (I say visible because now that I know exactly where it is, I am going to go back to check it out), no fences or gates...nothing. It was just about what I expected an abandoned missile silo to be: abandoned. I would have expected there to be some kind of access to the orbiter or some kind of climate controlled structure. The area hadn't been used in decades and nature had begun taking the land back over. From the landscape I assumed I must have been in the wrong place. I was probably in the right area, maybe just looking in the wrong place. When I got back home I did some further research and found out that the first silo I stopped at was the silo which entombed Challenger (according to Google Earth). So now that I know where I am (presumably) supposed to go I will have to make another trip out there.

The trip was not a complete waste. I had been out to Launch Complex 34 before but did not have my camera with me. For those that do not know, Launch Complex 34 is where Apollo 1 burned up on the launch pad. The only other manned launch from the complex was Apollo 7. I do not want to say that it was eerie being there but it was. And it was extremely surreal. I do not have a whole lot to say about it other than it is a pretty peaceful place right next to the ocean. One of those places you can go to just think about life.

The launch pad and mobile flame trenches to the left: