NASA Cut 385 Acres of Trees In Florida For a Better View of Launch Pads (upi.com) 108
McGruber quotes UPI:
NASA has cut down trees on more than 385 acres of Kennedy Space Center in Florida to allow a better view of launch pads where human spaceflight is set to return after a lull of many years.
The last astronauts to launch into space from the site were aboard space shuttle Atlantis in 2011. Since then, trees have grown so thick that the view from the press site a few miles away is totally obstructed. [Last week] when the media arrived for a SpaceX launch, they noticed a change: a clear view of launch pads.
"It looks like it did during the Apollo days, which is a great thing," said photographer Julian Leek, 65, a freelancer who has worked for such outlets as Ladies' Home Journal and the Miami Herald over the years. "Back then you could see the pads and the concrete, and now it's a gorgeous view again. Over the years, the vegetation has been growing and growing," Leek said.
The last astronauts to launch into space from the site were aboard space shuttle Atlantis in 2011. Since then, trees have grown so thick that the view from the press site a few miles away is totally obstructed. [Last week] when the media arrived for a SpaceX launch, they noticed a change: a clear view of launch pads.
"It looks like it did during the Apollo days, which is a great thing," said photographer Julian Leek, 65, a freelancer who has worked for such outlets as Ladies' Home Journal and the Miami Herald over the years. "Back then you could see the pads and the concrete, and now it's a gorgeous view again. Over the years, the vegetation has been growing and growing," Leek said.
so what (Score:1)
They were in the way
It's Florida (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's Florida (Score:5, Insightful)
Enough with outrage about supposed outrage that is nowhere to be seen
Re:It's Florida (Score:5, Funny)
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And despite America becoming white due to literal European invasion, and Texas originally being Mexico that invited in the gringos with the assumption they'd be well behaved, it's pretty ignorant, warped, and bizarre to claim that Texas is being invaded by hispanics.
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Don't forget, the gringos agreed that they wouldn't have slaves, then went back on that which is one of the reasons Mexico was trying to crack down on them.
Anyway, the point was the hypocrisy in claiming that hispanics are invading.
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...and Texas originally being Mexico ..
You do know that Mexico was actually created and ruled by the Spaniards, who annexed the area of Texas at that time, even before Independence, right? And that they frequently warred with the native Navajos, Apache, and Commanche, whose land they grabbed?
They were just a different group of Europeans.
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Annexed Texas is a bit iffy. When Mexico declared independence from Spain it claimed control over the land that was previously New Spain, including much of Texas. It was not annexed at a later date. At the time of independence the area was chock full of Spaniards and mestizos (ie, hispanics).
The point being made is that Texas is not being invaded by hispanics and "frequently warred with natives" is irrelevant to that point (and is a frequently used excuse to whitewash over later US actions).
Brazil's amazon rainforest also has many trees (Score:1)
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Those are actually pretty recent. Historically, the Amazon rain forest was much more densely populated and cultivated [wikipedia.org].
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It was an act of euthanasia (Score:1)
Re: It was an act of euthanasia (Score:1)
yeah! Stop the dihydrogenmonoxide poisoning!
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Not quite. SpaceX and Atlas rockets are burning RP-1, so like any other hydrocarbon fuel, you get hydrocarbon emissions, nitrogen oxides and CO in there as well, while solid rocket boosters are still aluminium+ammonium perchlorate, so you get aluminium oxide and chloride instead of hydrocarbons.
SpaceX has methane engines in development, but they're not slated to be in production until the BFR comes along.
There are still natural trees in Florida? (Score:3)
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Touristy (Score:4, Interesting)
Even some of the touristy areas have cool things to look at when you aren't there at peak times. The back of Legoland, for instance, still has a good chunk of the original Cypress Gardens intact, which are stunning. When we went last, on a Tuesday in May, there was nobody back there. It was like we had a huge botanical garden to ourselves.
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Florida is great for about 6 months of the year and worth visiting
br That certainly depends on your tolerance for extremely hot temperatures and extreme humidity. As I grew up in a northern state I wouldn't consider Florida to be habitable for more than a couple weeks out of the year, and they rarely happen consecutively. Every time I've been there so far in my life I get home and kiss the ground to give thanks for having 4 actual seasons of weather - and for returning alive from Florida. I fear some time someone will talk me into going back there and I won't be so luc
Temperature preferences (Score:2)
As I grew up in a northern state I wouldn't consider Florida to be habitable for more than a couple weeks out of the year, and they rarely happen consecutively. Every time I've been there so far in my life I get home and kiss the ground to give thanks for having 4 actual seasons of weather - and for returning alive from Florida.
Growing up in the north has little to do with your tolerance for heat. I was born in and have spent most of my life living in the northern parts of the Midwest. I've also spent plenty of time in Florida. Yes it gets hot but it's not even close to as bad as you pretend. You're as bad as those wimps from Southern California who see a centimeter of snow or a thermometer anywhere close to freezing and break out in hives. (just teasing so relax) I understand having a preference (I sure do) but it's not lik
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Yes it gets hot but it's not even close to as bad as you pretend
There is no pretending here. I've suffered heat exhaustion in 85F weather. At 90F I'm barely functional, even with adequate hydration. 100F is deadly heat for me. I spent three days in Orlando (yes, at Disney) in May a few years ago. By the last day I was vomiting from a migraine that was brought on by the heat. I couldn't take in enough water and was nearly hospitalized; I ended my day at 5pm (skipping dinner entirely) and even the room AC wasn't cold enough for me. I had never before then been hap
Re: There are still natural trees in Florida? (Score:5, Informative)
It's a myth that Florida "doesn't have seasons".
We have two -- "Summer" and "January"
All kidding aside, our seasons are compressed:
* Autumn: begins the first night temperatures drop below 55 degrees... usually, the last week of October.
* Winter: psychologically, begins on Christmas Eve. Doesn't usually happen "for real" until January. Basically, the first day after Autumn begins when you can turn off the AC without feeling like a martyr.
* Indian Winter: sometimes, god smiles on Florida, and we'll get 2 or 3 awesome nice days in November... followed by a month of hot weather and a brutal 90+ degree Christmas. Jesus gets a lump of coal.
* Spring: The day your air conditioner chooses to die. It was secretly limping for months, but you didn't notice because it didn't have to work hard. Hot day, hot night, and your Maintenance/Repair Debt comes due. Usually happens around March. Otherwise, it's the sad day when you realize winter is officially over, and it's only going to get *worse* until Autumn.
Summer: Florida has two... Summer #1 starts around May, when it's 90+ in the afternoon. Summer #2 starts around August, when it's 90+ at 2am, rains for days at a time, and euthanasia starts to look like a preferable option compared to spending a week without air conditioning.
Autumn & Winter are Florida's two happy seasons. Spring is a bummer that fills you with disappointment and a sense of loss & impending doom. Summer is hell.
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Some delightful things in Florida. Bok Tower, for example.
But trees? Yeah, LOTS of those. But to get back on topic, trees (like the ones cut down at Cape Canaveral) are a crop, like corn or tomatoes. Harvest and replant.
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Clueless (Score:2)
I thought Mickey Mouse and company already paved the whole state by now.
Nope. Pretty much just one big county [wikipedia.org] more or less.
There's more than just theme parks, alligator-infested lakes, and NASA down there?
Is this a troll or an actual (dumb) question? You could find the answer (yes) in about 20 seconds on Google.
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You need to get a hobby mate. Have you considered coding some useful software?
damn ugly trees (Score:1)
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It's even less important than that. These trees were quite new - NASA had kept the area clear between the 1960s and 2011. Only when the press site stopped being used did NASA save some money by not clearing hundreds of acres every year.
Now the site is being used again, so NASA has resumed keeping the grounds clear. Just like they'd been doing for the previous 5 decades.
They could always make up for it (Score:5, Interesting)
by planting a couple thousand acres of land elsewhere.
I'm sure NASA owns a ton of land in other places which don't a an issue with viewing of launches or landings.
Re:They could always make up for it (Score:4, Funny)
by planting a couple thousand acres of land elsewhere.
That's exactly what they are planning to do . . . on Mars.
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These kinds of areas flourish quickly in florida. Just look at any area that has been control or natural burned in florida. The whole area will look dead for a month or so then within 6mo to a year its all filled in again with the quickly growing palms and other scrub
If I lived in Florida, I'd be planting Kudzu everywhere.
Resurrect the Mouse Trap (Score:2)
going somewhat OT, watching a PBS documentary about this legendary lounge "the Mouse Trap" where back in Apollo days it was the swinging joint. If you showed up wearing a tie, someone will cut it in half. They showed a promotional flyer highlighting featured the band, food, and "Rat of the Month."
Doing a google search has reviews on yelp that it closed in 2011, last owners renamed another place but quality was terrible. on collectspace.com Sy Liebergot posted in 2003 "So, Durango's Steakhouse goes back to
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Sounds interesting but I can't pull anything up on google, what's the title of this? Reminds me of the book "The Right Stuff", many of the Gemini astronauts would go get drunk and hang out with the local girls nearly every day after training.
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https://i.pinimg.com/originals/95/42/1b/95421b191f9cc48febd329c5f118fe41.jpg
https://www.visitspacecoast.co... [visitspacecoast.com]
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going somewhat OT, watching a PBS documentary about this legendary lounge "the Mouse Trap" where back in Apollo days it was the swinging joint.
Never actually went there, but I remember seeing it as a kid in the 70's every time we went through Cape Canaveral on A1A.
You think that's something? (Score:4, Insightful)
Which is exactly as important and interesting as NASA cutting trees.
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lol, i wonder if people really *know* how small 300-400 acres are, thats like a 4-5 mile square
And the vegetation regrowth in Florida is darn quick.
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In Florida units, 300 acres is just under Epcot Center in area.
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1 square mile is 640 acres.
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Come on! If you're going to be the ultimate narcissist and include yourself in a joke, be accurate.
"Ol Olsoc gently cradled Tim Cook's balls as he sucked his shaft."
That's accurate.
I'll bet you were fapping while you typed that out projection perp.
Re: This is ridiculous (Score:2)
It's a more cromulent measure than you think.
You know what an ox is, right? And a plow?
An acre is the amount of land that one man and one ox can reasonably expect to plow in one day.
To put this into perspective, it would take over a year for one man and one ox to plow the area that NASA cleared.
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An Anonymous Coward opined:
I have no idea how much 385 acres is, since I am not well-versed in retard units, but cutting down a large area of woodland so the press has a better view of something is absurd.
No, actually, it's not.
If you bothered to read TFA, you'd have discovered that most of the trees that were cut were scrub oaks and Brazilian pepper trees. Scrub oaks are trash trees - they don't grow straight enough to be useful for lumber - and are of little economic value. The pepper trees are a non-native, invasive species.
In addition to blocking the view from the press grandstand, the overgrowth in the buffer zone between the launch pads and the viewing area becomes a signific
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I lived in the Satellite Beach area back in 1969, and I know the area in question. It's not a park. It's empty, marshy fields ...
I live near that area now, and you're absolutely right. Not even any trees tall enough to be useful for bald eagles to nest in. And you are *so* right about those damned pepper trees.
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Going to say the same thing - as a Florida native and familiar with that area, the majority of those trees were invasive species like Brazilian Pepper and Maleleuca - not stately oaks and cypress.
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It's a bit more than half a square mile, given that there are 640 acres to a square mile.
(I can't be arsed to convert to soccer-playing soyboi units right now. :-P )
LOL! Let's save the trees! (Score:1)
Oh ya (Score:2)
Needed to cost more (Score:2)
"A tree-cutting contract for $80,207 recently was awarded to CORE Engineering and Construction of Winter Park, Fla., according to federal records.
345 acres is a bit more than a half square mile. That's a lot land just to walk around on, much less cut down the trees. The contract should have cost a lot more. Any proper engineering firm seeking federal money would have needed over a million dollars just for the site inspection alone.
This is really suspicious. What hasn't the media gotten proof of who is really behind this? It's got to be a coverup.
I already checked here.
http://weeklyworldnews.com/hea... [weeklyworldnews.com]
Nothing.
Journalism sinks lower (Score:2)
And my neighbour mowed his lawn the other day.
What on Earth is supposed to be newsworthy about this?
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They don't watch the launch pads for the scenery. Launches have risk.
Tower (Score:1)
NASA could've just built a tower for the press, to get an even better view of the launch pad.
But no, let's cut down a million trees instead.
Meh (Score:1)