Alcântara Space Center

The Alcântara Space Center (Portuguese: Centro Espacial de Alcântara, CEA), former known as Alcântara Launch Center (Portuguese: Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara,) 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 (Comando da Aeronáutica). 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.

The facility is in a strong position for launching satellites into geosynchronous orbits, according to British astrophysicist, Jonathan McDowell. As such, there are plans to launch several international rockets from Alcântara. In 2003 contracts were signed to launch Ukrainian Tsyklon-4 and Israeli Shavit rockets, thought these may have later been launched from their home countries in Ukraine and Israel. 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 2023.