launch pad

or launchpad

noun

1. the platform on which a missile or launch vehicle undergoes final prelaunch checkout and countdown and from which it is launched from the surface of the earth.
2. something that serves to launch or initiate:

   He used his legal experience as a launch pad for his career in politics.

launch pad

noun

1. a platform from which a spacecraft, rocket, etc, is launched
2. an effective starting point for a career, enterprise, or campaign

Word History and Origins

Origin of launch pad¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Musk and Bezos have fought over a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, battled over a patent over landing rockets and have argued over which of them actually pulled off that feat first.

From Washington Post

In 2013, when SpaceX was in talks to lease launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center from NASA, Blue Origin stepped in to say it wanted a shot to compete for the pad.

From Washington Post

Ingenuity took its fourth flight on April 30 to scout for a new launch pad.

From Science News

Then, it will at last be rolled out to the launch pad in preparation for an uncrewed test flight around the moon at the end of this year or the beginning of next.

From Time

Another exploded on the launch pad ahead of an engine test in 2016.

From Washington Post

Instead, they saw music videos as a launch pad for a whole new artistic movement: virality.

From The Daily Beast

He has underpinned his future program by winning from NASA a 20-year lease on the legendary launch pad 39A at Cape Canaveral.

From The Daily Beast

Kelsey takes that riff further: "The show will be our ejector seat, our launch pad, our final disappearing act."

From The Daily Beast

The first mission, Apollo 1, never got off the ground after a fire killed its crew on the launch pad.

From The Daily Beast

The storms brought winds gusting up to 90 miles per hour and pelted areas near the launch pad with hailstones.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• launching pad