Alcântara Space Center
The Alcântara Space Center (, CEA), former known as "Alcântara Launch Center" (, is a space center and launching facility of the Brazilian Space Agency in the city of Alcântara, located on Brazil's northern Atlantic coast, in the state of Maranhão. It is operated by the Brazilian Air Force (). The CEA is the closest launching base to the equator. This gives the launch site a significant advantage in launching geosynchronous satellites, an attribute shared by the Guiana Space Centre.

Construction of the base began in 1982. The first launch occurred on February 21, 1990, when the sounding rocket Sonda 2 XV-53 was launched. On August 22, 2003, the explosion of the third VLS-1 (XV-03) killed 21 people.

There are also plans to launch several international rockets from Alcântara. In 2003 contracts were signed to launch Ukrainian Tsyklon-4 (as of December 2009 planned to be launched by the end of 2010) and Israeli Shavit rockets; In addition there are further plans to launch the Russian Proton rocket. In the beginning of 2018, Brazilian government offered the possibility to use the spaceport to several U.S. companies. The company Virgin Orbit, was selected to fly their LauncherOne rocket from Alcântara in the first half of 2022.
Q1192221
space center
Concept
Q853604
Brazilian Space Agency
ORG
Q939522
Alcântara
LOC
Q155
Brazil
LOC
Q42362
Maranhão
LOC
Q634542
Brazilian Air Force
ORG
Q23538
equator
Concept
Q1412630
geosynchronous satellite
Concept
Q308987
Guiana Space Centre
LOC
Q579036
sounding rocket
Concept
Q1972028
Sonda 2
Concept
Q377174
explosion of the third VLS-1
EVE
Q925945
Tsyklon-4
MISC
Q876010
Shavit
MISC
Q249231
Proton rocket
MISC
Q28939648
Virgin Orbit
ORG
Q1807659
LauncherOne
MISC
Q922797
Alcântara Space Center
LOC
1982-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1982
DATE
1990-02-21T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 21, 1990
DATE
2003-08-22T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
August 22, 2003
DATE
2003-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2003
DATE
2009-12-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 2009
DATE
2010-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2010
DATE
2018-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2018
DATE
2022-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2022
DATE
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
-53^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-53
NUMBER
-1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-1
NUMBER
-03^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-03
NUMBER
+21^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
21
NUMBER
-4^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-4
NUMBER
located in the administrative territorial entity
country
item operated
country
country
located in the administrative territorial entity
located in the administrative territorial entity
subclass of
number of deaths