Located on Florida's central Atlantic coast, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is NASA's principal launch base. It occupies 140,000 (56,568 hectares) acres of land and water on Merritt Island, the adjacent coastal strand, and the Indian and Banana Rivers and Mosquito Lagoon by which the center is surrounded. The NASA holdings include 84,031 acres (34,007 hectares), the remainder is owned by the State of Florida but controlled by NASA under deeds of dedication. Robert L. Crippen is Director. KSC's eastern boundary fronts on the Atlantic Ocean and the center's large area (about one-fifth the size of Rhode Island) is surrounded by water, providing ample safety to the surrounding communities during launches, landings and other hazardous operations. Only a small portion of KSC is used for space operations; the balance is managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a wildlife refuge and national seashore. The center was established in the early 1960s as the launch site for the Apollo lunar landing missions. KSC pioneered the mobile launch technique in which space vehicles are built up inside protective structures and moved to their launch pads a short time before launch, reducing their exposure to the corrosive sea shore environment to the minimum. After the Apollo program was concluded in 1972, KSC's Complex 39 was used for the launch of four Skylab missions and for the Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The center's facilities were modified for the Space Shuttle program in the mid to late 1970s. The Shuttle era began with the launch of the STS-1 mission on April 12, 1981. As of the beginning of 1993, more than 50 Shuttle missions had been launched and the current forecast calls for the launch of approximately eight missions per year from KSC's twin pads. KSC is NASA's prime center for the test, checkout and launch of payloads and space vehicles. This includes launch of manned vehicles at KSC and oversight of NASA missions launched on unmanned vehicles from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California. The center is responsible for the assembly, checkout and launch of Space Shuttle vehicles and their payloads, landing operations and turn-around of Shuttle orbiters between missions, as well as preparation and launch of unmanned Scout vehicles from VAFB. KSC also is responsible for the operation of the KSC Vandenberg Launch Site Resident Office located at VAFB.