When it was built, it, along with complexes 12, 13 and 14, featured a more robust design than many contemporary pads, due to the greater power of the Atlas compared to other rockets of the time.

It was larger, and featured a concrete launch pedestal that was 6 metres (20 ft) tall and a reinforced blockhouse.

On 18 December 1958, Atlas 10B launched SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, into low Earth orbit.

Although no specific cause for the combustion instability could be determined, the separate duct for the booster turbine exhaust had been removed from the Atlas pads at CCAS earlier in the year since it was considered unnecessary and complicated ground testing of the missiles.

Although there was no evidence indicating that the lack of the exhaust ducts caused the failures, program officials decided to play it safe, and in any case wanted the pads to conform with Atlas D silo configurations.