NASA's Abandoned Launch Facilities 56
trazom28 writes I ran across an interesting slideshow of NASA's abandoned launch facilities. It's an interesting piece of scientific history. The images are from "photographer Roland Miller's upcoming book, Abandoned in Place. The book is a visual study of the deactivated launch and research facilities that played an essential role in early American space exploration.
Then and Now (Score:5, Informative)
I highly recommend the Then and Now tour at Cape Canaveral AFS. You sign up for it at the KSC visitors' center.
Re:Then and Now (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
That's not surprising. They want something guaranteed to be good. It's unrealistic for them to be able to know if every form of ID from any country in the world is legitimate. I'm sure they do at least a cursory check before allowing anyone in.
In theory, your passport is good. It should have been checked when you entered the US.
If you are a foreign national in the US, you're suppose to keep your passport with you at all times. Some states require anyone 18 and over to carry at least a state issued I
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
American Drivers licence or other Photo ID?
Re:first (Score:5, Interesting)
that's sad (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Given just how noxious most rocket fuels are and, no doubt, the number of safety corner cut in the rush to beat the Soviets, I suspect that most of these facilities are far too contaminated to be economically rehabilitated for any other use in the foreseeable future.
Re: (Score:3)
The problem is that they are sitting in the middle of a wildlife refuge, and doing any demolition would actually cause far more damage to the local environment than simply leaving them in place. This is both in terms of simply hauling the demolition equipment in and trying to "rehabilitate" the land in some fashion after you have cleared away the mess.
Besides, there is always the possibility that some of those sites could still be reused, and concrete poured in the past for a launch pad is often very usefu
Re: (Score:2)
Demolishing them would actually free up the land so something useful could be done with it and any metal would be taken to a scrap yard. Just abandoning this stuff is a waste of resources.
Most these old sites are smack dab in the middle of nowhere, it's not exactly highly desired land.
Re: (Score:2)
I expect that as long as we are setting rockets on their ass and blasting them into space, it would not be "rocket science" to design a launch facility that is adaptable to different vehicles and sizes. Re-inventing the wheel is expensive.
Re:that's sad (Score:5, Informative)
I expect that as long as we are setting rockets on their ass and blasting them into space, it would not be "rocket science" to design a launch facility that is adaptable to different vehicles and sizes. Re-inventing the wheel is expensive.
Warning - I am an inveterate Rocket slut......
The difference between different Rockets is astounding. My post isn't trying to contradict - I have some fun examples to enjoy
Freedom 7 Mercury launchL
http://voyagerslog.blogspot.co... [blogspot.com] Alomost unbelievably single. A retaining ring, and a pivoted gantry.
This is almost shocking. There was a tower and elevator that owuld pull away before launch - probably because those early ones were so explodey. But this is darn simple. And we were learning as we went at the same time.
Gemini program. The rocket was more powerful, and thrust effects were getting getting to be a problem, they could wreck a rocket.
Here is a cool photo I'd not seen before - a time exposure photo of Gemini 10 put in place and launched - Love it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... [wikipedia.org]
Back to the launchpad itself, now you'll see it is built up some. I'll note that this was a repurposed launch pad, having been used for Titan II rockets. It was abandoned at the end of the Gemini program. The larger thrust required thrust deflectors to avoid damage to both the Pad and rocket. http://www.honeysucklecreek.ne... [honeysucklecreek.net]
Then we move onto the Saturn 1, but lett's ski ahead to the Saturn V.
This was one serious big sumbitch rocket. The days of taking a little rocket out horizontally were gone, replaced with the vertical transport. The sizes were so different that in addition to handling the amount of thrust, everything was bigger.
Which brings us to Launch complex 39 Of Apollo and Shuttle fame.
Now we can repurpose things if needed. The pads are large enough to handle Saturn V's, so they could be modified for shuttle use, and at present 39A is being modified for Spacex Falcon Rockets, and 39B launchpad is going to be used for SLS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K... [wikipedia.org]
That's the long version with pictures. The tl;dr version is that the early launch pads were rendered useless as the Rocket power grew, and building new pads was happening whaile th eold ones were in use. Even getting the Rocket for the Apollo-Soyuz mission gusseted up required changes The Saturn 5 Rocket was just too much oomph to send a stripped down Apollo to low earth orbit, the pads that were used for the Saturn 5 launchpad were used because the Pads normally used for that Rocket were not operational any longer, so they strapped on a Saturn 1-B with what was called a milkstool. The photo shows the concept.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ga... [nasa.gov]
Number 4 (Score:2)
What the heck is number 4? Looking at the door it appears to be in a thick concrete dome. With very uncomfortable looking inclined metal seats. (with harnesses) all angled to a center cage with "Fire Blanket" canisters...
The title is rather unhelpfully "Abandoned Secret NASA Complex" -roll eyes-
Re:Number 4 (Score:5, Informative)
So follow up...(thank you google image search) Wired also is carrying the pictures and actually tells you what they are instead of BS like "Abandoned Secret NASA Complex"
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/c... [wired.com]
Number 4 is
"Shelter Dome, Rubber Room, Launch Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 1996. “Adjoining the Rubber Room was a Shelter Dome room with the floor set on springs to isolate the occupants from whatever conflagration may be occurring above them as they seek shelter.”
Re: (Score:3)
Wow ... and on a rocket launch pad, that "conflagration" could be quite, er, dramatic.
Would not ever want to be the poor bastard who had to lock himself into that room and hope it would hold up.
That's the "curl up in a corner and keep screaming until they find you" room.
Re:Number 4 (Score:4, Informative)
Yah that's why the photo caught my eye; I was thinking why would people inside a several foot thick concrete dome need harnesses and fire blankets... whomever is in this room is not having a good day.
After knowing what it's called there is an even more amazing article on that very room.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/... [spaceflightnow.com]
They join technicians working on the platform to jump down a chute on the north-side of the platform that connected to the teflon-lined slide that rapidly gets them underground.
That 200-foot slide empties into the aptly-named "rubber room" with its rubber floors meant to absorb the impact of the explosion occurring on the pad surface 40 feet above them. Hopping off the landing ramp, the people would scurry to their left into the fallout shelter, a domed room suspended on shock-dampening springs and sealed off with massive blast-proof doors. Inside, the chamber held 20 chairs, a toilet and carbon dioxide scrubbing equipment to keep the occupants alive until rescue teams arrive.
AWESOME!
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks, that link is so much better. The editors should change the front page.
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder what the reasoning was for mounting the blast door that way. I would think you'd want it oriented such that a blast coming down the slide would push the door closed, instead of hold it open. Although I suppose that if the door isn't closed all the way by the time a blast reaches that far it might not matter.
Me depressed now (Score:5, Insightful)
It wouldn't be so bad if this were just part of a natural evolution of NASA. But at its heart it's the result of the dramatic slashing of the NASA budget after Apollo, the end of the "space race," and constant political interference (mostly in the form of pork projects that Congressmen wanted NASA to lend credibility to). NASA is a sad shell of its 1960's self, and these facilities are a very literal reminder of that fact.
Re: (Score:1)
Ah yes, "political interference". You mean like the only way the Apollo project would have existed in the first place?
Unless Kennedy was paid by Martin Marietta and Rockwell and Grumman to "commit this nation" to send a few test pilots on the Moon?
Re: (Score:3)
Well, no. Not really.
Pretty much all of the Saturn V pads and buildings are still there, and still in use - having been repurposed multiple times. The Saturn I pads were abandoned in the late 60's because nobody thought we'd ever use them again. (And then along
Re: (Score:1)
NASA is a sad shell of its 1960's self, and these facilities are a very literal reminder of that fact.
C'mon, everybody knows by now that the real "'scare" of Sputnik wasn't that the Russkies put a tiny satellite into orbit, but that the R7 that put it there was a capable ICBM [wikipedia.org].
The whole "man on the Moon" thing was political cover for having the biggest-baddest ICBM rockets on the planet and being able to militarize space. You can tell taxpayers that you're going to spend a huge chunk of GDP on technology to
Pretty neat pictures (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Reminds me of Rocketdyne (Score:5, Interesting)
These remind me of the old Rocketdyne [wikipedia.org] facility near where I grew up in Southwest Missouri. There were a couple of huge rocket testing facilities out there, but they were shut down in the 60s (I think). Thirty years ago, I could take my Jeep and drive around out there and snoop around.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:it wouldnt be slashdot without a cynic (Score:4)
So, everything is proceeding according to plan, then?
Surely you don't think that's by accident. People have spent good money to ensure that happens.
Back in the days, lots of rocket activity (Score:2)
Re:Back in the days, lots of rocket activity (Score:5, Interesting)
SSFL (Santa Susanna Field Laboratory) was also the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history. [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Damn it! I live in Los Angeles, I wasn't aware of this disaster zone. Thanks!
Re: (Score:1)
Given NASA/SpaceJunkX's backward tendencies... (Score:1)
Those shouldn't be abandoned for long if space technology goes further back than Apollo.
Sell/lease the facilities cheap (Score:2)
... To the private space contractors. SOMEONE should get some use out of them. If NASA doesn't want to use those facilities, I'll bet Boeing and SpaceX etc can find a use for them.
They're always in need of large construction hangers near launch pads.
Inane caption (Score:2)