Because I Can | Syntholis

With a warning siren, a final 3-2-1 countdown and cry of “fire in the hole!”, explosives flashed with loud bangs near the bases of the nearly 200-foot-tall mobile and fixed towers at pads 17A and 17B, sending them toppling sideways in opposite directions.

Complex 17 was activated in 1957 for test launches of Thor ballistic missile, and was later known for space missions by Delta rockets. In all, it hosted 325 launches.

Most recently, the site was home for more than 20 years to United Launch Alliance’s workhorse Delta II program, which flew the last of its 110 missions from the Cape nearly seven years ago, sending a pair of gravity mapping probes to the moon for NASA on Sept. 10, 2011.