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Space Science

Apollo 11 Launch Tower Rescue Effort 250

Posted by Hemos from the a-piece-of-the-past dept.
SaveTheLUT writes "Florida Today has this story about the disposal of the last remaining Apollo Launch Tower - the one which launched Apollo 11 to the Moon in July 1969. The campaign to save the tower has also appeared on InsideKSC, CollectSpace, Space.com and there is to be a TV article about it on Central Florida News 13 channel on Monday morning. The Space Restoration Society has created an on-line Petition which has already managed to gather more than 2000 signatures to save this piece of America's history since NASA announced the disposal of the tower early last week."
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Apollo 11 Launch Tower Rescue Effort More

Apollo 11 Launch Tower Rescue Effort

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  • Apollo 11 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Can it run Linux ( 664464 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:31AM (#8226405)
    Did you know that there was more computing power in the original Palm Pilot than was used in Apollo 11 to get the astronauts to the moon? I think that's pretty cool. I mean, they were able to NAVIGATE OUTER SPACE with less technology than we use to KEEP A DATEBOOK.

    So I'm thinkin', can it run Linux?

    • Re:Apollo 11 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:57AM (#8226670)
      I keep my datebook in a pocket spiral bound notebook I picked up in a drugstore for $.69. I find it superiour technology for the task. Pen ready and everything.

      Sometimes we use our technology because it's there, not because it's really ideal for the task.

      Comes to that I keep the exact same model slide rule the astronauts carried on my desk. If you know how to use one it's still sometimes faster and easier than a calculator or a computer, and the batteries never wear down.

      It also keeps me a bit sharper than I might otherwise be. Slide rules require an understanding of mathematics to use. I quote from my user manual:

      "When people have difficulty in learning to use a slide rule, usually it is not because the instrument is difficult to use. The reason is likely to be that they don't understand the mathematics on which the instrument is based, or the formulas they are trying to evaluate. "

      I don't recommend that people dispose of their calculators, but I do think it would be instructive if everyone at least learned a bit about using a slide rule. It has a way of showing whether you really understand the the math you're doing, or whether you're using the calculator as a crutch for said understanding, as opposed to using it as a tool.

      KFG

      • Re:Apollo 11 (Score:5, Funny)

        by malraid ( 592373 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:09PM (#8226777)
        That's good...That's why my datacenter is made up of abaccuses. Not a single blue screen. And considering how stupid our users are, it doesn't make much of a difference. They don't understand the "underlying math" It's fun when you implement a brand new buzz word compatible service, and everyone is happy to have it, but none has the slightest clue what it's for, much less how to use it.

        You really need very little technology to get by. Pentium 4 3GHz and 512 MB of RAM to play freecell??? Come on...
        • On the other hand it requires a certain mathmatical understanding to play freecell if you expect to win.

          Learning to use an abacus would have been the correct way of going about teaching the "New Math," which was otherwise a bit of a failure.

          Perhaps better still would be learning Chisenbop, since it's harder to misplace your fingers than an abacus, and you can convert to octal by simply removing two of them.

          Chisenbop [iupui.edu]

          KFG

        • Re:Apollo 11 (Score:4, Funny)

          by Greedo ( 304385 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @01:12PM (#8227494) Homepage Journal
          I'd like to see you abacus-powered datacenter get /.-ed!

          "Argh ... my fingers are bleeding!"
      • dude, calculators perform very simple mathematics. One has to understand the math to even use the thing.

        as for a palm pilot, its far superior to your silly pen and paper. i could give you a long list of valuable usages, but if all u need is pen and paper, i fear your responsibilities are low, or your available time is high anyway.

        This is akin to the "design webpages in notepad" philosophy.
        • Which calculator do you have? I still use my HP-41CV, it have many complicated calculations that I've programmed into it, including advanced calculus... Bought it in '82 for $450, new.

      • Re:Apollo 11 (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mitheral ( 10588 )
        I keep my datebook in a pocket spiral bound notebook I picked up in a drugstore for $.69. I find it superiour technology for the task. Pen ready and everything.

        Hard to grep a dead tree though.

    • Re:Apollo 11 (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Buran ( 150348 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:42PM (#8227142)
      The miniaturization of modern computers was originally done so that the Lunar Module could be fitted with a computer to allow it to reach the lunar surface. This computer had to process data from the landing radar as well as allow the astronauts to control the spacecraft.

      Apollo 11 very nearly did not succeed in landing when the rendezvous radar (meant to be used only during rendezvous with the orbiting CSM) was accidentally left on, triggering a computer overload; these are the famous 1201 and 1202 alarm codes that you can hear called out in audio recordings of the final descent.

  • OMG (Score:2, Funny)

    by SparafucileMan ( 544171 )
    "save this piece of America's history"

    Great, just what America needs, another huge-assed phallus.

    • Re:OMG (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fleener ( 140714 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:11PM (#8226797)
      Save a historic building? Sure. I can see the economic and cultural benefit to a community. Save a launch tower? I see huge ongoing expenses and very little benefit except to a few museum goers who would just as easily be served by a photo. There are more important, more valuable pieces of space history to preserve. Aren't there?

      • Re:OMG (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Buran ( 150348 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:46PM (#8227192)
        There is little left of the Apollo hardware in its original form. While there are three Saturn Vs still in existence, they are lying on their sides in museums, leaving little real impression of how big the Saturn 5 truly was compared with today's spacecraft. (They are in Houston, Huntsville, and Titusville.) Not until the fiberglass replica was erected in Huntsville (where one of the original rockets still lies to this day) did I really comprehend its size, even though I am a space buff and intricately familiar with many of the details of this vehicle, including the size specifications for it (and today's Space Shuttle.)

        The Vehicle Assembly Building, transport crawler, and launch pads still exist but today service the Space Shuttle (and the original red launch towers have given way to the much shorter gray Shuttle towers), leaving only the VAB's sheer size to give a hint of what once was.

        I believe this is important to keep. We once took pride in the fact that we could send people to touch the Moon if we chose to. We need to remind ourselves of that, and of the fact that we one day will do it again.
      • Name one.

    • Re:OMG (Score:3, Funny)

      by Raul654 ( 453029 )
      Great, just what America needs, another huge-assed phallus.

      Yea, but it still doesn't compare to Florida

  • I think ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by B3ryllium ( 571199 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:32AM (#8226419) Homepage
    I think that all of Man's great erections should be cherished.

  • Sell it. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by heironymouscoward ( 683461 ) <heironymouscowar ... m ['oo.' in gap]> on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:33AM (#8226431) Journal
    Cut it into small pieces, 5" square, auction them on ebay. It will raise money and give millions of people a piece of history. I wish someone'd done this with the Berlin Wall, with Sadam's statue, and with the wreckage of the WTC. Come to think of it, it'd be a cool way of disposing of other problems too. Care to buy a small piece of Daryl?

    • Re:Sell it. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Polkyb ( 732262 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:35AM (#8226454)
      Ahhh.. But what is then to stop the Chinese from buying all the bits and reassembling them to launch their own craft...
    • I assume you are being sarcastic, I have a piece of each. And no I do not want a piece of Daryl. Perhaps a piece of his wife, in front of him, but thats about it.

    • Re:Sell it. (Score:4, Informative)

      by lelitsch ( 31136 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:43AM (#8226541)
      Regardless of the fact that the Berlin Wall came down before eBay even existed, that was exactly what happened to it. It got cut up in small pieces and they were sold all over the place. Actually, they still are. Just go to ebay, search for Berlin Wall and you can buy a lot of bits of concrete. Some even authenticated.

      • Re:Sell it. (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) *
        Yup, I know it well. I have a LOT of the Berlin wall, due to living there when it came down :) Out in my garage atm, I have a 1 meter square portion of the wall with a rather spectacular peice of grafiti on it, cost nearly $300 to get back into the country.

        Aside from that, I have bags and bags of the stuff. I really must spread it about sometime, give everyone a peice of history. A friend grabbed an ENTIRE guard tower the day after the movement restrictions were lifted. He jsut wandered down there wi

    • Re:Sell it. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jin Wicked ( 317953 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:48AM (#8226588) Homepage Journal

      Yeah, that's all we need is auctioning off rusty, dangerous bits of metal to John Q. Public, so they can cut their thumb on it and have it get horribly infected, then try to sue the pants off NASA. =P~

      • And those pieces of metal could be sharpened and used as weapons for criminal and terrorist acts! We must have strict metal control laws. Clearly we won't be safe until the general public is forbidden to own any weapon technology more dangerous than a plastic spork.
    • i think they DID do this with the Berlin wall.
    • everybody and their dog was running around with berlin wall parts back 90/91. Of course all those were from the surface (with grafitti parts).
      Many people believe the whole wall didnt have as much grafitti as the stones they sold each month....

  • The Crazy Thing Is... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by N8F8 ( 4562 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:33AM (#8226437)
    I was flying into Melbourne Florida airpost last week and honestly Cape Canaveral appears barely developed. Hard to imagine they need the room that bad.

  • Money (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:34AM (#8226444) Journal
    I would rather see NASA devote money to building new towers and new space crafts that will get us to deep space with large payloads, then to see them spending money on saving this.

    If these groups are truely interested in this, They should put their money where their mouths are.

    • Re:Money (Score:3, Insightful)

      by pointzero ( 707900 )
      You got it all wrong. It would cost money to destroy it anyway... so technically, saving this doesn't cost anything.

      • Re:Money (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Jin Wicked ( 317953 )

        It costs money to clean up the environmental mess that it's already made, and it will cost more to keep it than dismantle it if you consider that it's only going to continue breaking down, rusting, and polluting the land around it and water table below. I'm sure the costs of restoration and upkeep far, far exceed the costs of simply destroying and dismantling it, or they wouldn't go to the trouble to begin with.

      • Re:Money (Score:5, Insightful)

        by pocopoco ( 624442 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @01:03PM (#8227370)
        The article says 2 million to clean it up, 40 million to preserve it. So the "saving this doesn't cost anything" post above is wrong by a factor of 20...

    • Actually Saturn V was the largest (Score:4, Informative)

      by enosys ( 705759 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:14PM (#8226841) Homepage
      Actually the Saturn V [apollosaturn.com] was the largest operational rocket ever.

    • Re:Money (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Billy the Mountain ( 225541 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:15PM (#8226853) Journal
      Artificial Reef:

      Decontaminate it and sink it into the bay. That way, it will do two things: 1. Create fish habitat, encouraging the growth of endangered species of fish and 2. Provide a diver's mecca with historical significance.

      BTM
    • >rather see NASA devote money to building new towers and new space crafts

      Yes!

      I grew up in FL, and went on a field trip to see a shuttle launch in the late '80s. It was the most powerful thing I have ever seen, both in physical and emotional terms. TV can't do justice to something that shakes the ground like that.

      After the launch, we toured the Kennedy Space Ctr. and saw your typical museum fare--impressive but nothing compared to the launch we had just witnessed. One more tired old piece of scaffoldin
      • Sometimes we need to remember what once was to inspire us to do it again. I find the mental image of this tower standing, alone, with no rocket beside it, to be a sad one ... but also a silent voice asking me to bring it something to launch. I find it inspirational and sad at the same time, that we once could do so much and turned away from it when there was so much potential before us. We went for political reasons ... but there are so many reasons to have kept going.

  • Sign the petition (Score:5, Insightful)

    by shystershep ( 643874 ) * <.moc.liamg. .ta. .drehpehsdb.> on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:34AM (#8226446) Homepage Journal
    There's just over 2000 signatures on their petition. If there aren't ten times that many by lunch, I'm going to lose all faith in Slashdot.

    • Re:Sign the petition (Score:4, Interesting)

      by happyfrogcow ( 708359 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:42AM (#8226525)
      Is it really that important to save? Recycle it, sell it, maybe. But save it? Bleh. Save rainforests, but old peices of construction? Take a chunk out and put it in a museum somewhere.

      • Re:Sign the petition (Score:2, Insightful)

        by joebok ( 457904 )
        I'm a sci-fi buff and I would like nothing better than to see us get back into manned exploration. Even so at first I was dubious about the merits of saving a rusted tower... but then I remembered my visit to the Kennedy Space Center several years ago. The center, and especially the Saturn V [speakeasy.org] exhibit was fantastic - informative and inspirational. Preserving the tower would remind us of the scale and reality of what we have achieved was. Amidst movies and special effects I think it's easy to forget how ha

    • yeah, an online petition (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sbma44 ( 694130 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:53AM (#8226636)
      THAT's the way to get things done

      Please. Nobody pays attention to those things. If you want anyone to give a damn, take the time to write a letter. Submitting your email address to a website is not meaningful political speech.

    • Re:Sign the petition (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shystershep ( 643874 ) * <.moc.liamg. .ta. .drehpehsdb.> on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:56AM (#8226666) Homepage Journal
      Golly. I can't imagine what it would be like if anybody actually RTFA!! Nobody is asking NASA to foot the bill for the preservation. They are simply trying to get a stay of execution for the LUT to give them time to raise funds.

      "Oh, but it's old and useless. They should just get rid of it, and maybe keep a chunk for a museum." Sure. It's nice to know people have some historical perspective. Pyramids? Pah, they're just taking up space. Sistine Chapel? Just take a picture and junk the original. It's too much bother keeping it in good shape. Textbooks are so much more engaging than actually getting a chance to physically see a piece of history, after all.
      • Well... it's not only old and useless, but very likely unable to stand. If this were something that we had faith could stand for years, OK. But as is, it's been rusting for twenty+ years, and would probably fail during construction.

        Reminds me of the folks who wanted to raise the titanic... never mind the fact that it'd probably disintegrate on the way up...

    • Re:Sign the petition (Score:3, Insightful)

      by farrellj ( 563 ) *
      Like the song "You don't know what've got 'til it's gone", this piece of history *is* important. We may not see it now, or in 100 years, but people will look dimly on us as we canabalize history...imagine if the various US flags that many hold so dear had been recycled into rags?!?!?! The Launch Tower was the finger that pointed to the Moon for all mankind...it should be saved!

      ttyl
      Farrell

  • Already gone (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:35AM (#8226460)
    Looks like the damn thing is already disassembled. Looks like the horse is already out of the barn. Space history is super-cool, but I find the spacecraft and human history to be much more compelling than all the nuts and bolts of the logistics. I guess I'm not a geek as I don't find this mostly-disassembled toxic tower to be very compelling.
    • It has been disassembled for many years. This effort is to save it and possibly reassemble it for future exhibit, rather than melting it down or otherwise destroying it.

      I have not read this linked article, but I am a space buff and have read about this on several other in-depth space news sites, so I'm familiar with this tower and just how long it has been lying there.

  • Saw it up and sell the pieces on EBay (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sure it's a piece of history, but it's also a huge hunk of metal that is no longer needed by NASA. Why shoul NASA be forced to spend money on preserving something that is taking up a lot of "space" (heh) and isn't being used?

  • A little overboard (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FortKnox ( 169099 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:41AM (#8226515) Homepage Journal
    The capsule is already in the smithsonian, so I think this is a bit overboard. Honestly, what is the advantage in saving the tower? If they pay for removing it and putting it somewhere else, then I say go for it. If it'll cost NASA more to save than destroying it, I say 'bring on the TNT!'
    • The capsule is already in the smithsonian, so I think this is a bit overboard. Honestly, what is the advantage in saving the tower? If they pay for removing it and putting it somewhere else, then I say go for it. If it'll cost NASA more to save than destroying it, I say 'bring on the TNT!'

      They should have used it when building the Air and Space museum, or could build something cool out of it in Cape. I agree, if it's just going to be stored somewhere let's kill it, but it seems like something could be do

  • What about the money? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rjstanford ( 69735 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:42AM (#8226524) Homepage Journal
    If they don't want it, don't just bitch and moan - pony up some cash (collectively, presumably) and buy the damn thing. We shouldn't force government agencies to keep large, expensive, hazardous equipment around for notstaligic reasons. That's what museums are for. Its the same with some "classic" buildings - for example, when the Dr. Pepper plant in Dallas was going to be knocked down by a developer, he offered to sell it back the "outraged community" for the bargain price that he paid for it - so that the new owner could do with it as they saw fit and, presumably, not demolish it. There were no takers. Funny how when its someone's money rather than just their signature, that support for these vague initiatives just dries up...

    Besides, what would you do with it? Other than try hard to keep your liability insurance paid up while not letting anyone get to close to it, of course...

    • Re:What about the money? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:58AM (#8226689)
      funny... U-Lands, Gopher Munitions [actionsquad.org] the University of Minnesota "bought" this land from the government years ago after it was abandoned, unfinished, after WWII. Multiple parties have been interested in buying the land but have been ignored. So why should this particular "piece of history" be preserved w/o being torn down?

      Side note, I visited the unfinished sister version of this structure in Rosemount, MN (see here [geocaching.com] and here [geocaching.com]). It's in ruins, covered in graffiti, and is just rotting away.

      Why on our dime (the University of Minnesota is a state funded operation mind you...)?
    • Funny how when its someone's money rather than just their signature, that support for these vague initiatives just dries up...

      Well, there might be some money for it if half the population wasn't working part-time stocking the paper towel shelf at Wal-Mart.

  • Saving American History (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JungleBoy ( 7578 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:42AM (#8226533)
    I'm all for saving American History, but this shouldn't be NASA's job. This sort of this is the responsibility of institutions like the Smithsonian. Nasa should be spending its money on new projects. I know I'm nostalgic about the glory days of the space race, but eventually NASA will become overburdened with this sort of thing.

  • It's not just history, it's dangerous...! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jin Wicked ( 317953 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:43AM (#8226542) Homepage Journal

    The article says the thing is causing some serious environmental hazards. I know they keep the Saturn moon rockets, and the other rockets sitting around in the visitor's centres at Kennedy, and here at Johnson in Houston, but it looks less an issue of space and more of keeping the thing from poisoning the land around it. If a third party wanted to house and restore the thing, that's one issue, but I don't think it warrants just signing a petition and telling NASA "Hey, find a way to save this." NASA has already been under so many budget cuts, I don't blame them one bit for dismantling it. The structure will always live on in photographs and film, and it's not as if it will ever launch again.

    I think a better testament to the history of space exploration would be to quit using the 20 year old shuttle fleet and start doing some real innovation again, rather than hanging on to a big chunk of rusting steel and paint to make a monument that honestly, not too many people will even bother to go see.

  • Man, people get a grip.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lawrence_Bird ( 67278 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:46AM (#8226574) Homepage
    there are some things that are just not worth saving,
    especially when they cost many millions of dollars. This
    is like somebody doing spring cleaning and refusing to
    toss out that favorite letter jacket from high school.
    Think about it: $40 mio is what they want to raise.
    Yet two (failed) Mars probes - Polar Lander and Climate
    Orbiter cost $165 and $125 mio. Its time we stop all this
    nostalgia bs - there is plenty of video, tech specs and
    what not already. If you want to contribute something to
    the space efforts, make it something that pushes things
    *FORWARD* not back.

  • Junk it (Score:5, Interesting)

    by laing ( 303349 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:47AM (#8226580)
    I've been "pad hopping" down at KSC. I've seen most of the rusty run-down and abandonded launch facilities. The only thing worth saving is the Apollo 1 memorial there. It's not available for public viewing, but that may change someday. It's a small display case with photos letters and news clippings off in one corner of the pad. The rest of the pad is as bad as most of the others. There's not much worth saving at any of them. It's just a lot of rusted metal and concrete.
    • There's not much worth saving at any of them. It's just a lot of rusted metal and concrete.

      Yes, but it's cool rusted metal and concrete.

      I've been pad hopping a few times, too, and would love to spend a day or so just going over one or another of the sites in detail. But I'd be afraid of many things -- contamination, twisted rusted metal that could give me a nasty cut, and, of course, snakes and alligators.

      It seems to me that major chunks of this tower have already been preserved. I'm not really sure
  • Sell it to Disneyworld. They can attach a ride to it or something like the spaceship "ride" they used to have at Disneyland...

    Except they'd have to come up with a ride that's actually better idea than Rocket to the Moon [yesterland.com] or the slightly revamped Mission to Mars. Otherwise, they'll be getting rid of it pretty quick for lack of interest...

  • save the waters (Score:5, Insightful)

    by happyfrogcow ( 708359 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:49AM (#8226598)
    Get rid of the thing. The whole areas waterways are so cool. The banana river, etc. Don't let it contaminate the water. Spare the redfish, sea trout, manatees and dolphins. It's amazing drifting down the nearby barge canal by the canaveral locks and watching the dozens of dolphins feed and manatees bob up and down. The place doesn't need any more contamination and pollution than it already has. It a beautiful span of land and water. Have you ever seen wild boars on the shorelines before sunrise?

    Let NASA sterilize it and scrap it. Don't sign the petition.
    • From the article:

      The group hopes to raise $40 million -- its estimate for restoring the gantry and then erecting it somewhere on Kennedy Space Center grounds. The most likely site is the KSC Visitors Complex, according to preliminary society plans.

  • Suggestion (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jchawk ( 127686 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @11:56AM (#8226663) Homepage Journal
    Unfortunatley we can't keep everything due to the cost of safely maintaining it. I'm all for preserving the tower, but are you really willing to pony up the money to do it? I for one would rather see my tax dollars spent on new exploration, rather then maintaining a monument to the past.

  • Or alternately... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Channard ( 693317 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:00PM (#8226702) Journal
    They could sell the bits on E-Bay and you could own your own piece of history. Now which would be more profitable, hmm?

  • potential National Register eligibility (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alleycat0 ( 232486 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:01PM (#8226717) Homepage
    IIAHPP (I am a historic preservation professional), and this is my understanding of how part of this will play out:

    An Environmental Impact Statement, including assessment of impact to known or potential historic resources, will need to be filed if any of the following are true:

    • Federal funding will be utilized
    • A federal permit will be required
    • The site sits on federal land
    It seems to me that at least two of the above apply.

    If the tower is deemed to be eligible (or on!) the National Register of Historic Places, steps will need to be taken to 'mitigate' the impact to this structure. The preferred way is to leave it in place (eliminates impact entirely); alternatively, a HABS (Historic American Building Survey) Recordation might suffice, wherein a comprehensive documentary effort, including the drafting of detailed architectural drawings, is undertaken.

    Unless they've already taken this scenario into consideration and are prepared for the associated costs and potential delays, perhaps NASA will back-burner the effort to dismantle the tower; or maybe public opinion of the tower's contribution to our nation's historic heritage will help convince them to shelve the idea.

  • Save the Rockets, not the Platforms (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FatHogByTheAss ( 257292 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:07PM (#8226763)
    Go see the things. NASA has a fully restored Saturn V rocket on display at Kennedy Space Center, set to Smithonian standards. It's an awsem thing to behold.

    The launch platforms themselves are boring, not realy historically relevant, and apparently a hazard to the environment. Scrap them, and use the space for something else.

    • I don't know about "every problem", but what are the alternatives?

      You just seem to dislike open markets. Am I to infer Central Planning is more effective?

      You imply laws are passed in a open market fashion, and they maybe after a fashion this is so by side effect of effective lobbying, but no one suggests that this is a correct solution.

      You dislike the idea of pollution credits obviously, but fail to show how pollution is increased by use of pollution credits, or fails in its intent to redress certain

    • CUT AND PASTE MISTAKE!
      IGNORE PREVIOUS POST -- here is the correct response:

      There seems to be an even split on slashdot between scrapping and saving. I for one am for saving. Perhaps I am a little more biased because my 11 birthday was when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

      For people under the age of 40, landing on the Moon may not seem like such a big deal, but for those of us that remember the 60's it was HUGE. So huge in fact that I can't imagine we wouldn't preserve every scrap of relevant hardware

  • I vote Save It! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Stitch_626 ( 744380 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:14PM (#8226834)
    This is an important piece of our space exploration history. As long as the cost to restore and preserve it doesn't cost tens of millions of dollars we should save it.

    Just imagine the thrill your children, grand children and further down the line would have if they could stop by this tower just before they take their journey to the Moon, Mars or beyond and think "Wow this is where it all started".
  • You'll never make the future happen if all you live on is memories. It's a tower for crying out loud. You want to build a true monument to the Apollo program, get us back on the moon and quit wasting your time trying to save a steel scaffolding.
  • Just clean up the metal. Cut it in little chunks and sell each chunk on ebay. Anyone remember when you could buy little chunks of the Berlin wall?

  • Petitions don't mean squat (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rorschach1 ( 174480 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @12:57PM (#8227306) Homepage
    If you want to save it, raise the money to haul it off and put it on display somewhere. Anything less is meaningless.

  • Save the tower!? (Score:5, Funny)

    by teamhasnoi ( 554944 ) <teamhasnoi@yahoo.cLIONom minus cat> on Monday February 09, 2004 @01:11PM (#8227479) Journal
    I'm more concerned with saving the props and the soundstage!

  • Interesting Find (Score:4, Funny)

    by WndrBr3d ( 219963 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @01:14PM (#8227522) Homepage Journal
    You know, I find it interesting that even with the Slashdot linkage and the outpouring of support for the Apollo 11 launch pad (~2,800 sigs), there are almost as many people signing a petition to take Ted Nugent off the air [petitiononline.com] (~2,100 sigs).

    See, Americans know whats important.

  • Get it a corporate sponsor... (Score:5, Funny)

    by kitzilla ( 266382 ) <paperfrog&gmail,com> on Monday February 09, 2004 @01:26PM (#8227663) Homepage Journal
    Tour guide: "And just to your left is the Viagra/Apollo mission launch tower. It's forty years old and still standing tall -- if you know what I mean. When you're thinking of blasting off, think of Viagra. Common side effects include headache, facial flushing, and upset stomach. Less commonly bluish vision, blurred vision, or sensitivity to light may briefly occur. But -- hey -- it beats not getting off the pad. If you know what I mean."

    (Murmurs of approval from the tour group. Flashbulbs go off. A handsome, outdoorsy middle-aged man hugs his attractive, 30-something wife. She beams with pride. Tour bus disappears into a tunnel. Soft focus pan back to launch tower, with the super "ALL SYSTEMS GO" to fade.)

  • Why not build a replica? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by starsong ( 624646 ) on Monday February 09, 2004 @01:33PM (#8227764)
    It seems from the article that:
    (1) The tower is disassembled,
    (2) The paint is toxic and leeching heavy metals into the groundwater,
    (3) Having been left to rust since 1983, the tower segments are in highly questionable condition and may collapse if put back together, and
    (4) They may have already disposed of or lost several sections.

    If you want to spend over $40 mil, why not build a brand-new replica, from the original designs? It would preserve the scale of the original and also avoid the dangers and expenses incurred by trying to salvage the old pieces. Provided it was built with historical accuracy in mind, does it really matter if the physical pieces are the same? Bear in mind that it doesn't need to be as expensive as the original, because it doesn't actually need to fuel and support a spacecraft; it only needs to look like it does. And you could easily modify the design to accomodate tourists at $25 a head.

  • World history (Score:2, Insightful)

    by multipart ( 732754 )
    ...to save this piece of America's history ...

    Wtf. "America's history"?! _WORLD_ history!!!

    • Re:World history (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BCW2 ( 168187 )
      FTW. America built, Americans Paid for it, Americans did it. The world was as usual of little to no help!

      For some reason that sounds familiar.
  • ...if our space program hadn't become stagnant over the last 35 years to the point that we need to hang onto relics like this to remember our mighty past.

    RP

  • Not everything is deserving to be saved... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wynlyndd ( 5732 ) <wynlyndd&gmail,com> on Monday February 09, 2004 @02:28PM (#8228471) Homepage
    Personally, I think a more fitting monument would be to get NASA cleaned up and getting us back into space...

  • What I learned from Hollywood... (Score:3, Funny)

    by ahrenritter ( 187622 ) * <deinspanjer@gmail.com> on Monday February 09, 2004 @04:19PM (#8230130) Homepage
    Don't get rid of that launch tower! Some day, all our fancy high tech gizmos with the flashing lights and buttons made out of Styrofoam will mysteriously fail (while all the scientists smack their foreheads wondering how they could have missed such a glaring flaw in their plan). Then, all hope will be lost for our ruggedly handsome astronauts and the one superstar cute girl who just happened to stow-a-way. Until, that is, the quirky hero who forgets to shave regularly and whom everyone discounts because he never fully recovered his sense of self worth after **the accident** will come up with a daring plan to use decades old technology and will blast a new rocket whipped together with spare parts found in broom closets into outer space from that tower, saving the day and restoring everyone's faith in him.. (Also getting him the envied thirty second make out session from the sexy stow-a-way when she lands.)

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