It takes much planning and scheduling for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to plan a spacecraft launch. Space shuttles always launch from Kennedy Space Center on the east coast of Central Florida. Non-shuttle rocket launch sites are Cape Canaveral Air Force Station near Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Missions requiring equatorial orbits are typically launched from Cape Canaveral, while those requiring polar orbits are usually launched from Vandenberg. NASA also has secondary launch sites at Kodiak Island, Alaska, and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Although NASA is in charge of all space shuttle missions, the agency is not involved in all rocket launches. Many commercial, military and international missions launched from the U.S. and around the world are not affiliated with NASA.
NASA maintains a list of scheduled missions on their web site.
