Launch Pad- Moonbase Alpha Guide

Launch Pad Exteriors

5 launch pads were visible around the base.
The Research Station in The Exiles had an additional cross-shaped pad.
The cross-shaped pad was also seen in Brian The Brain & The A B Chrysalis.
A further cross-shaped pad is seen in some episodes, in a shot of an Eagle in the foreground, buildings (including a dome from Mission Of The Darians) beyond, and the whole of the Moonbase seen in the distance (New Adam, New Eve, Space Warp, Seed Of Destruction, The Seance Spectre).
Launch Pad 7 is named in Missing Link, launch pads 6, 8 & 9 in The Seance Spectre, launch pad 10 in The Last Enemy.
Space Warp & The Dorcons featured a shot looking up the launch shaft as it is sealed.
The A B Chrysalis & Catacombs Of The Moon show the same shot of an Eagle landing on an 'open' launch pad.
Shots of an Eagle being raised on a launch pad with the whole base visible were in Guardian Of Piri, Voyager's Return and The Dorcons.
See Eagle hangar
Technical Notebook plan

22 inch Launch Pad

Launch pad type 1: low sloping sides with wide panels. Note the boarding tube has a black band along the side. The SFX model is in scale with the 22inch Eagle.

Note the good views of the top of the reception building (compare to the full views of Moonbase Alpha below). The framework structure on the side of the pad is also seen in the Eagle hangar, and contains various hemispheres.

An unusual landing: the Eagle is parked at the far wing of the platform (note the landing lights). This is the 44 inch Eagle on the 22 inch launch pad.

44inch Launch Pad - 1

Launch pad type 2: with thinner panels on the sloping sides, in scale with 44 inch Eagle. These are unusual landings- on an "open" launch pad, with two Eagles docked together. And an Eagle landing with engines towards the docking tube (and no landing legs).

44inch Launch Pad - 2

Launch pad type 3: with vertical sides, in scale with 44 inch Eagle. Yes, many shots were flopped left for right...

Launch pad lift

The red launch platform rises and lowers the Eagle to the underground hangars. Note that the detailing inside the launch shaft only reaches a certain level, then becomes plain gray.

Full views of the base with a launch pad in the foreground. Apparently the entire docking building disappears or retracts.

The launch pad in Dorzak, Seance Spectre and The Immunity Syndrome is different. The launch shaft walls are green or blue (depending on the quality of the picture) rather than gray, and have pipes, lights (or windows) and other detailing, so the elevator platform must have a gap (covered at the top by an overhang).

Unusual view looking up the launch shaft as covers move across (from Seance Spectre & The Dorcons). The detailing on the sides of the shaft does not match what is seen from above (there seem to be windows).

Cross-shaped pad

The cross shaped pad appears in Brian The Brain & The A B Chrysalis; other shots show it attached to outlying research stations. Note the conventional pad seen in the shot with the transference dome.