The Launch Site is the biggest, richest and most dangerous monument in Rust. It is a sprawling cobalt space centre, all warehouses, fuel silos, a launch gantry and a huge rocket, and it is the one monument every wipe eventually points toward. Behind its red card door sit three elite crates, the best crate loot in the game, and out on the courtyard rolls the thing that scares new players more than any other, the Bradley APC. Beat both and you walk away with an end-game haul. Rush it blind and the tank turns you to paste.
What makes Launch Site in Rust different from the monuments earlier in the wipe is that it spends a red keycard rather than giving one. You bring a green card, a red card and two electric fuses, run the longest puzzle in the game, and the reward is elite loot, not another card. That single fact reshapes your whole route: you farm cheap green cards, upgrade to a red at the Airfield, and only then does Launch Site open up.
This Launch Site Rust guide covers the whole monument end to end: the full green-and-red puzzle with its parkour timer step by step, how to kill the Bradley and loot its crates, the elite loot and the hackable crate, the scientists and radiation, the recyclers and refinery, what to bring, and how Launch Site stacks up against the other red-card monuments. Every number here is checked against RustHelp’s monument data, Corrosion Hour, The Nerd Stash and Rustafied, not guessed.
- What Is Launch Site
- Launch Site Stats
- The Bradley APC
- The Launch Site Puzzle
- Loot & Elite Crates
- How to Get In (Red Card)
- Scientists & Radiation
- Recyclers & Refinery
- What to Bring
- Vs Other Monuments
- Pro Tips
- FAQ
What Is the Launch Site in Rust?
The Launch Site monument, sometimes called the Cobalt Space Centre, is the largest landmark in the game and the one with the most loot. It is a full rocket facility: a towering launch gantry and rocket, a cluster of fuel silos, several warehouses, an office and control building, shipping containers, and a maze of interior rooms that hold the puzzle and the elite crates. It sprawls across the map, sits out in the open, and is impossible to miss from a distance.
On the map it is a tier-3, red-tier monument. That means it is end-game content. You do not just walk in, you fight your way in, and you need a red keycard to reach the best rooms. It is the last rung of the monument progression that starts with cheap green cards and ends here, at the place those cards were always leading.
Two things set the Launch Site apart from every other monument. The first is the Bradley APC, a roaming tank that patrols the central runway and courtyard and will shred anyone caught in the open. The second is the elite crate loot behind the red card door, which is on par with the Oil Rig and the Missile Silo for the richest non-raid loot in the game. Add the wandering scientists, the radiated interior and the constant PvP the loot attracts, and you have the toughest all-round run in Rust.
Launch Site Rust Stats
Here are the full, verified stats for the Launch Site monument. The headline is simple: the best crate loot on the map, guarded by the hardest set of threats in the game.
| Stat | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Monument type | Large, tier 3 | The biggest monument in the game |
| Safe zone | No | Full PvP, and it is heavily contested |
| Radiation | Median 11 / max 52 | Mild outside, hot in the red card rooms |
| Scientists | ~8 | Launch Site scientists, do not respawn |
| Bradley APC | Yes, 1,000 HP | Patrols the courtyard, explosives only |
| Puzzle | Green + Red card + 2 fuses | Plus a timed parkour section |
| Puzzle reward | 3 Elite Crates | Plus 2 advanced blueprint fragments |
| Total crates | ~35 + 56 barrels | Around 568 scrap for a full clear |
| Hackable crate | When the Chinook drops one | 15 minute hack, no card needed |
| Recyclers | 1 | On site for scrapping loot |
| Oil refinery | 1 (free) | Plus a research table and repair bench |
| Chinook drop zone | Yes | The CH47 can drop a locked crate here |
| Train tunnel entrance | Yes | Freight line runs underneath |
| Loot reset | ~30 minutes | Bradley respawns about every 60 |
| No-build radius | 92,205 m² | One of the largest on the map |
Compared with the other red-tier monuments, Launch Site is the one that combines everything at once. The Missile Silo has more scientists and hotter radiation, and Military Tunnels has heavier guards underground, but only the Launch Site pairs a red-card puzzle with a Bradley APC and elite loot in one open, contested arena.
The Bradley APC at Launch Site
The Bradley APC is the signature threat of the Launch Site and the reason most players fear the monument. It is an armoured tank that drives a fixed loop around the central runway and courtyard, and it opens fire the moment it sees you, with a main cannon and machine guns that can kill in a heartbeat. If you are going to run the surface, you deal with the Bradley first.
The Bradley has 1,000 HP and takes damage from explosives only, with no weak spot to aim for, so bullets and arrows do nothing. The cheapest reliable kill is 7 HV rockets (about 1,400 sulfur), and the fastest is 3 C4. Regular rockets work too at around 11, but they are far more expensive than HVs, so HV rockets are the standard tool. Once it dies it does not drop loot directly, it spawns 3 APC crates that carry high-tier gear like a targeting computer, tech trash, weapons and sometimes an auto turret.
You do not always have to kill it. Many players run the puzzle and loot the interior while dodging the Bradley’s patrol loop, only killing it if they want the APC crates or plan to hold the monument. But on the open courtyard, near the launch gantry, the Bradley has clean lines of sight, so know its route before you break cover.
The Launch Site Puzzle: Green, Red and Two Fuses
The Launch Site puzzle is the longest in the game. It is not just card swipes: it mixes two fuse boxes, two card doors and a timed parkour section across the rocket gantry. The full run takes several minutes even when you know the route, so prepare all four items before you leave home, a green card, a red card and two electric fuses, because there is no way to finish short.
- Bring green, red and two fuses. You need 1 Green Keycard, 1 Red Keycard and 2 Electric Fuses. Remember Launch Site spends the red card, it does not give one, so bring your own.
- Start the parkour timer by the rocket. Drop down next to the rocket scaffolding, flip the timed power switch, then run the jumping puzzle across the gantry and press the button at the far end before the timer runs out.
- Fuse one at the green door by the silos. Head to the small building next to the three fuel silos, open the green card door, insert your first electric fuse into the box and flip the switch beside it.
- Fuse two by the blue containers. Go through the door near the two blue shipping containers, insert your second fuse and hit that switch. This powers the final red door.
- Swipe the red card at the main building. Walk to the red card reader on the main warehouse and swipe your Red Keycard. The final loot rooms open, with the three elite crates inside.
Launch Site Rust Loot & Elite Crates
Launch Site has the deepest loot pool of any monument, which is the whole reason to take on the Bradley and the puzzle. Between the red card rooms, the surface crates, the barrels and the Bradley’s APC crates, a full clear is one of the biggest single hauls in the game outside of a raid.
- 3 Elite Crates. The prize, behind the red card door. Elite crates hold the best crate loot in the game, from high-tier weapons and components to blueprints.
- 2 Advanced Blueprint Fragments. Straight progress toward a Workbench 3, plus a chance for more from the elite crates. See our blueprints guide for how fragments feed the tech tree.
- 3 APC Crates from the Bradley. Destroy the tank and it drops three crates of high-tier loot, often including a targeting computer and tech trash.
- Around 35 crates and 56 barrels. Roughly 20 puzzle-locked crates behind the doors, plus a spread of military and normal crates, oil barrels and loot barrels across the whole site.
- A hackable Locked Crate when the Chinook drops one. A 15 minute hack with no card required, dropping elite-tier loot, but it pings the whole server map the moment you start it.
- Around 568 scrap a full clear. Recycle the components you do not want at the on-site recycler and walk home with pure scrap.
How to Get Into Launch Site (The Red Card)
The single most common mistake at the Launch Site is turning up without a red keycard, because unlike the green-card monuments, Launch Site takes a red card rather than handing one out. A red card is not sold by any vendor, so you have to earn one before you can open the best rooms here.
The path works like this. First you get a green card, which you can buy at Bandit Camp for around 15 scrap or loot off a roadside scientist. Then you earn a red card by running the Airfield puzzle, which rewards one for a green card, a blue card and two fuses. Finally you bring that red card, a green card and two more fuses to the Launch Site and spend it on the elite crates.
Because the swipe does not consume your cards, one red card is enough to open the Launch Site over and over. That turns a single Airfield run into a reusable key: keep a stock of fuses and you can farm the Launch Site all wipe for elite loot, feeding your raids and your gear without ever paying a vendor for a card. The red keycard guide covers every place a red card is used and looted.
Scientists & Radiation at Launch Site
The Bradley gets the attention, but the Launch Site also fields a squad of scientists and a radiated interior, so plan for both on top of the tank and the other players.
Radiation is mild on the surface but climbs to a max of about 52 in the red card building, so you can scout the outside in light gear but you want a proper hazmat suit, plus food and bandages, for the interior. That is hotter than the Airfield at 11 and Military Tunnels at 26, though still below the Missile Silo’s 81.
The guards are around eight Launch Site scientists carrying rifles, and a key detail is that they do not respawn once killed, so clearing them makes each subsequent loop safer. They take double damage to the head like all scientists, so headshots drop them fast. On top of the ground threat, the patrol helicopter can crash on the open runways here, and the rare satellite crash event drops its debris at the Launch Site control building. As always, the biggest danger is the other players the elite loot draws in.
Recyclers, Refinery & Amenities
For all its danger, the Launch Site is also a full processing stop. Because it is so large, it carries a useful set of on-site amenities, so you can recycle, refine and research a haul without leaving the wall.
There is a recycler on site for turning looted components into scrap, a free Small Oil Refinery for making low grade fuel out of crude, and a research table and repair bench in the buildings. The research table is handy for turning a looted item into a blueprint on the spot, and the refinery is a bonus if you are hauling crude from a nearby quarry or the diesel you pull from crates.
One thing to set straight: current monument data lists the Launch Site with a research table and a repair bench, but no crafting workbench, but it is a Chinook drop zone, so the CH47 can fly in and drop a hackable crate on the site. Plan to craft back at base, and keep an eye on the sky. It does, however, have a train tunnel entrance, so you can arrive and leave through the underground freight network, which is often safer than crossing the open ground above.
What to Bring to Launch Site
Launch Site asks for more than any other monument, because you are running a long puzzle, beating scientists, surviving radiation and potentially killing a tank, all while other players hunt you. Pack for every job.
- A Red Keycard and a Green Keycard. The red card opens the final rooms and the green card opens a door on the way. Earn the red at the Airfield first if you do not have one.
- Two Electric Fuses. One for each fuse box, loot only and consumed on use, so bring exactly two plus a spare for a second loop.
- C4 or HV rockets. Only if you plan to kill the Bradley: 3 C4 or 7 HV rockets. See the explosives guide for the cost breakdown.
- A hazmat suit and meds. The interior rooms are radiated, so a hazmat, food and bandages keep you alive through the red card rooms.
- A rifle and ammo. Around eight scientists plus heavy PvP. Bring a real gun, not a bow, and enough ammo for a running fight.
Launch Site vs Other Red-Card Monuments
It helps to be clear about where the Launch Site sits among the end-game monuments. It is the one that combines the most threats and the most loot, which is why it is usually the last monument a player learns to run confidently.
| Monument | Card needed | Top reward | Danger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Site Elite loot | Green + Red + 2 fuses | 3 elite crates, APC crates | Very high: Bradley APC |
| Missile Silo | Red keycard | Elite crates, big loot | High: ~27 scientists, rad 81 |
| Military Tunnels | Green + Blue + Red + fuse | Elite crates | High: ~30 heavy scientists |
| Airfield Earn the red card | Green + Blue + 2 fuses | A red keycard | Low: ~3-5 scientists |
So the order most players follow is simple: farm cheap green cards, upgrade to a red at the Airfield, then spend that red card at Launch Site or the Missile Silo. Launch Site is the toughest of the group because of the Bradley, but it is also the most complete run: a puzzle, a tank fight, elite loot and a full set of amenities in one place. Clear it cleanly and you have proven you can handle anything the wipe throws at you.
Launch Site Rust Pro Tips
- Earn the red card first. Launch Site spends a red card, it does not give one. Run the Airfield to get one before you come, or the trip is wasted.
- Deal with the Bradley from cover. 3 C4 or 7 HV rockets drops it. Fight it from inside a building so its cannon and the spawned scientists cannot pin you in the open.
- Bring two fuses, not one. There are two fuse boxes underground. Arriving a fuse short is the most common wasted run at the Launch Site.
- Wear a hazmat inside. The surface is mild but the red card rooms hit 52 radiation. A hazmat, food and bandages keep you standing through the loot.
- Skip the hack on a live server. The hackable crate pings the whole map for 15 minutes. Only start it if you have the numbers to hold the site.
- It all resets on force wipe. Every crate, the Bradley and the puzzle reset on the monthly wipe, so run it early and often rather than saving loot you will lose.
Planning your wipe-day Launch Site run? The monthly force wipe resets the whole map, the Bradley, every crate and your keycards. Check the live countdown so you know exactly when the fresh elite crates land.
See the Force Wipe CountdownLaunch Site Rust FAQ
What keycard do you need for the Launch Site in Rust?
The Launch Site puzzle needs both a green keycard and a red keycard, plus two electric fuses. You open a green card door on the way in and swipe the red card at the main building to reach the final elite loot rooms. Unlike the green-card monuments, the Launch Site spends a red card rather than rewarding one, so you must bring your own red card, which you earn at the Airfield. Neither card is consumed when you swipe it.
How do you do the Launch Site puzzle in Rust?
Bring a green keycard, a red keycard and two electric fuses. First, drop by the rocket scaffolding, flip the timed power switch and complete the jumping puzzle across the gantry, pressing the button at the far end. Then insert your first fuse at the green door by the fuel silos and flip its switch. Insert your second fuse at the box near the two blue containers to power the red door. Finally, swipe your red card at the main building to open the loot rooms with the three elite crates.
How many fuses do you need for the Launch Site?
You need two electric fuses for the Launch Site. There are two separate fuse boxes underground, one behind the green door by the silos and one near the blue containers, and each needs its own fuse to power its switch. Fuses are loot only, cannot be crafted and are consumed on use, so bring exactly two, plus a spare if you plan to run the puzzle more than once in a session.
Does the Launch Site give a red keycard?
No. The Launch Site does not reward a red keycard, it spends one. You must bring your own red card to open the final loot rooms. This is the opposite of the Airfield, which rewards a red card for completing its puzzle. So the normal route is to earn a red card at the Airfield first, then bring it to the Launch Site to spend on the elite crates. The red card is not consumed by the swipe, so one card can open the Launch Site repeatedly.
How do you kill the Bradley APC at Launch Site?
The Bradley APC has 1,000 HP and takes damage from explosives only, with no weak spot. The cheapest reliable kill is 7 HV rockets, around 1,400 sulfur, and the fastest is 3 C4. Regular rockets and other explosives work but cost far more. Fight it from inside a building, because damaging it deploys waves of scientists, and burst it down fast to skip the later waves. When it dies it drops 3 APC crates full of high-tier loot rather than dropping items directly.
How much loot is at the Launch Site?
The Launch Site has the deepest loot pool of any monument. Behind the red card door are 3 elite crates and 2 advanced blueprint fragments. Across the whole site there are around 35 crates and 56 barrels, and killing the Bradley adds 3 APC crates. The Chinook can also drop a hackable locked crate here. A full clear is worth roughly 568 scrap once you recycle the components you do not want at the on-site recycler, making it one of the biggest single hauls in the game outside a raid.
How many scientists are at the Launch Site?
The Launch Site has around eight scientists carrying rifles, patrolling the buildings and courtyard. A key detail is that these Launch Site scientists do not respawn once killed, so clearing them makes each subsequent loop of the monument safer. They take double damage to the head like all scientists, so headshots drop them quickly. Between the scientists, the Bradley APC and the other players the loot attracts, bring armour, a rifle and plenty of ammo.
Is the Launch Site radiated? Do you need a hazmat suit?
Yes, partly. The surface of the Launch Site has only mild radiation, but the interior red card rooms climb to a maximum of about 52, which is significant. You should bring a hazmat suit, plus food and bandages, for the interior. That is hotter than the Airfield at 11 and Military Tunnels at 26, but milder than the Missile Silo at 81. You can scout the outside in lighter gear, but do not enter the red card building without radiation protection.
Does the Launch Site have a recycler?
Yes, the Launch Site has a recycler on site, so you can turn looted components into scrap without hauling everything back to base. It also has a free small oil refinery, a research table and a repair bench in the buildings, which makes it a full processing stop as well as a loot run. There is no crafting workbench in current monument data, so plan to do any actual crafting back at base.
Is the Launch Site a safe zone in Rust?
No. The Launch Site is not a safe zone, so other players can attack you and you can attack them. Its elite loot makes it one of the most contested monuments on the map, especially early in a wipe. On top of the Bradley APC and the scientists, expect other players camping the courtyard and the puzzle exits. Bring a weapon, clear the Bradley and scientists before you commit to the puzzle, and always watch your back inside the loot rooms.
Does the Launch Site have CCTV camera codes?
The Launch Site does not have reliable fixed CCTV camera codes in the current monument camera lists, unlike the Missile Silo or the Airfield, which have hardcoded codes. Some sites list Launch Site codes, but the main monument camera references do not confirm them, so treat any floating codes with caution and test them in game before relying on them. If you want to watch the monument, the safest approach is to place your own camera nearby rather than trusting an unverified code.
How often does the Launch Site reset?
The Launch Site loot rooms and loose crates reset roughly every 30 minutes, and the Bradley APC respawns about every 60 minutes after it is destroyed. That means on a quiet server you can loop the monument, running the puzzle again and again for elite crates and scrap. The puzzle-locked crates do not respawn within a single cycle, but the reward room itself does. On the monthly force wipe the whole map regenerates and everything starts fresh.
Is the Launch Site worth doing in Rust?
Yes, once you are geared. For a green card, a red card and two fuses you get 3 elite crates, 2 advanced blueprint fragments, a hackable crate and around 35 more crates, plus the Bradley’s 3 APC crates if you kill it. That is elite-tier loot on par with the Oil Rig and the Missile Silo. The catch is the difficulty: the Bradley, the scientists, the radiation and heavy PvP make it the hardest monument in the game, so bring proper gear and, ideally, a team.
Sources and Further Reading
- Monument data, crates, radiation, recyclers and puzzle: RustHelp, Launch Site
- Step-by-step puzzle walkthrough: The Nerd Stash, Launch Site Puzzle
- Every monument puzzle and fuse requirement: Corrosion Hour, Monument Puzzle Guide
- Advanced red-card puzzle solutions: Rustafied, Advanced Red Puzzle Solutions
- Killing the Bradley APC and its loot: whenisforcewiperust.com, Bradley APC Guide
- Earning the red keycard you spend here: whenisforcewiperust.com, Airfield Guide
- Every monument on the map: whenisforcewiperust.com, Rust Monuments Guide
- The game itself: Facepunch Studios