Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch 173
pumpkinpuss writes "Launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center suffered unusual damage during the shuttle Discovery's blastoff Saturday. Pictures from a NASA source show buckled concrete and numerous concrete blocks or bricks, presumably from the flame trench, littering a road behind the pad."
anyone know? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:anyone know? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:how? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not too surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Thermal Cycling (Score:3, Insightful)
Especially since making concrete effectively weather proof hasn't been all that hard for a very long time. You can still go to Italy and find concrete from the Roman times.
Re:How about the Shuttle? (Score:3, Insightful)
Today's comment was brought to you by the publishers of "My Very First Big Book of Classical Physics".
Re:anyone know? (Score:4, Insightful)
2. Make a post explaining that it was a joke
3. Get mod'ed as Informative
4. Get Karma
5. ???
6. Profit!
Re:how? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Also: it's a heavy mission (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, maybe they're carrying less fuel on lighter launches, but I've never heard that before. I can't imagine a 1% variation in liftoff weight making a big difference in time to clear the pad.
Anyone care to contribute some actual time measurements?
Re:how? (Score:4, Insightful)
That gets my vote too. Anyone who has been there for a launch can tell you that the vibrations from two miles away are incredible. That and Florida is basically a large sand dune.