| Launch Complex 39 |
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Launch Complex 39 is a large site and a collection of facilities at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida , USA , originally built for Apollo program, and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations. HISTORY Prior to the construction of the complex, State Road A1A ran east of the complex. Along this rural ocean road was the Chester Shoals Coast Guard Station. The initial design of the launch complex contained 5 pads that were evenly space 8700 feet apart to avoid damage in the event of a pad explosion. 3 were scheduled for construction (shown), 2 reserved for future use (1 shown). The numbering of the pads at the time was from north to south, with the northern most being LC39A, and the southern being LC39C. LC39A was never built, and LC39C became LC39A in 1963. With today's numbering, LC39C would be north of LC39B. LC39D (visible as an outline on the photograph to the right) would have been due west of LC39C. LC39E (not shown) would due north of the mid-distance between LC39C and LC39D, with LC39E forming the top of a triangle, and equidistant from LC39C and LC39D. Today, crawler way stubs are visible that would lead to these pads. The stubs are located 1 mile west of LC39A, and 1.5 south of LC39B. TerraServer Image The accompanying map also shows the unbuilt Nuclear Assembly Building (NAB). The pads were previously used for launches of the Saturn V rocket for the Project Apollo moon missions. The original structure of the pads were remodeled for the needs of the shuttle, first starting with LC39A after the last Saturn V launch, which carried Skylab , in 1973 , and in 1977 for LC39B after the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 . LC39 during the Apollo era were just launchpads - the umblical/service towers were attached to the launch platform--the only modification made was the so-called "milkstool" which allowed the Saturn IB rocket to use the Saturn V launch tower. For the shuttle, the pad has a fixed tower (leftover from the Apollo-Saturn era) and a rotating service platform, used to protect the Shuttle Orbiter and to install vertically-handled payloads into the payload bay. The first use of LC39 came in 1967 with the first Saturn V launch, carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 spacecraft. A second unmanned launch, Apollo 6 , also used LC39A. With the exception of Apollo 10 , which used LC39B (due to the "all-up" testing resulting in a 2-month turnaround period), all manned Apollo-Saturn V launches, commencing with Apollo 8 , used LC39A. LC39A was decommissioned as an Apollo-Saturn pad in 1974 and was reconfigured for Space Shuttle operations, being used for the first Columbia launch ( STS-1 ) in 1981 . LC39B underwent a similar Apollo-Saturn decommission in 1977. However, due to necessary modifications, along with budgetary restraints, it was not ready until 1986 , and the first Shuttle launch to use it was the ill-fated STS 51-L flight - the Challenger Disaster . SPACE SHUTTLE USAGE In order for the shuttle to reach orbit, it must have enough thrust to leave the pull of gravity from the earth. The thrust is provided by a combination of the Solid Rocket Booster s (SRB's) and the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME's). The SRBs are full of solid propellant, hence their name. The SSME's use a combination of Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen (LOX) from the External Tank (ET), as the shuttle does not have fuel tanks for the SSME's. Months before launch, the 3 main components of the "stack" are brought together in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). All of the components are placed on a Mobile Launch Platform (MLP). The SRB's arrive in segments via rail car from their manufacturing facility in Utah , the ET arrives from its manufacturing facility in Louisiana by barge and the space shuttle waits in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). The SRB's are first stacked and then the ET is mounted between them. Then using a massive crane, the Shuttle is lowered and connected to the ET. When entire stack integration is complete it is moved by the Crawler-Transporter 3-4 miles to the pad over eight hours. At the pad, the MLP is lowered onto several pedestals, and the Crawler-Transporter moves off the pad to a staging area a safe distance away. Each pad contains a two-piece access tower system, the Fixed Service Structure (FSS) and the Rotating Service Structure (RSS). The FSS permits access to the shuttle via a retractable arm and a "beanie cap" to capture vented LOX from a filled ET. The RSS contains a clean room, offers access to the orbiter's payload bay, protection from the elements and can protect the shuttle in winds up to 60 Knot s. Also at each pad are large cryogenic tanks that store the fuel Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen (LOX) fuel for the SSME's. The highly explosive nature of these chemicals results in numerous safety measures at the Launch Complex. NASA has calculated that the minimum safe distance in the event of a fully fueled space shuttle stack is three miles for personnel, and 8700 feet between pads. To prevent massive damage to the shuttle and the boosters, 6 feet of water is located below the launch platform to buffer the sound of the boosters during launch. Due to the immense heating of the water, a great amount of steam is produced during launch. Before tanking operations begin and all the way through lift off, non-essential personnel are cleared out of this hazard area. The Launch Control facilities and VAB are almost exactly three miles away. In the case of emergency, the launch complex has an emergency elevator system for quick shuttle personnel evacuation. Leaving the shuttle, the crew proceeds to an emergency elevator which drops the crew to the ground at speeds up to 60 miles per hour (mph). From there, the crew board a modified M113 Armored Personnel Carrier to a triangular helicopter pad located a couple hundred feet from the platform and are flown away from the complex to safety. FUTURE USAGE With the planned retirement of the Shuttle in 2010 , NASA will modify the two launch pads to accommodate the manned Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and the unmanned Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) in support of Project Constellation . Launch Complex 39A (post-Shuttle) NASA has designated LC-39A as the new launch pad for the planned CaLV, which will see its first possible launch after 2016 . Because of the later launch date than the manned CLV, this pad will support the final Shuttle flights, after which it will undergoe major modifications to support the CaLV. The modifications needed for Shuttle operations will include the replacement of the current FSS and RSS with a new FSS that would have the fuel and oxidizer arms, and a new service structure identical to that used on the Saturn V during the Apollo era to allow engineers access to the Lunar Surface Access Module . With minor modifications, the new LC-39A structure can also accommodate the CaLV with an attached Centaur upper stage for interplanetary missions, and can even serve as a backup CLV launch pad in the case LC-39B is damaged or destroyed by a launch pad explosion. A new mobile launch platform, with three flame ducts to accommodate the in-line exhausts for the SSME cluster and the SRBs, would have to be built. The water tank would remain, but new, larger tanks for liquid oxygen (LOX), liquid hydrogen (LH2), and liquid methane (LCH4) would have to be constructed to accommodate the larger rocket and its LSAM payload. Launch Complex 39B (post-Shuttle) LC-39B, first used as an Apollo launch pad in 1969 and as a Shuttle pad in 1986, will be taken off-line by NASA prior to 2007 or 2008, and would be stripped of the FSS and RSS assemblies--the water tank and LOX and LH2 tanks being the only remaining items to be leftover from the Shuttle era. A new LCH4 storage tank would be built to accommodate the new CEV, whose service module will be fueled by LOX and LCH4. In its place, the CLV & CEV will be mounted on a modified existing Shuttle mobile launch platform, and serviced by a launch tower fixed to the platform in a manner similar to that of Apollo-Saturn. A service structure identical to that planned for the CaLV, but shorter, will allow technicians access to the service module. Other Changes The VAB would have to be modified to accommodate the simultaneous stacking of both a CaLV and CLV (or two CaLVs or CLVs) at the same time. This would also occur prior to the replacement of the Shuttle and during the early test phases of the CLV (2009-2012), when NASA would be winding up the former's program and begin the latter's program. A possibility of the building of a LC-39C to accommodate extra CLV/CEV launch capacity has also been floated, along with the building of a LC-39D for the CaLV when planned manned missions to Mars will start after 2020. The building of LC-39C and LC-39D would also give NASA some insurance against the lost of either LC-39A and LC-39B and allow manned flights to continue, albeit on a reduced scale. Another possible change may occur not with LC-39 itself, but at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), where Launch Complex 34, a former Saturn I / Saturn IB facility last used by Apollo 7 (and the site of the Apollo 1 fire and the Apollo 5 unmanned Apollo Lunar Module test flight), could be rebuilt to accommodate the CLV. Such a rebuilding can allow NASA to test launch the CLV and CEV (while LC-39B is being configured for manned CEV launches), and eventually allow for the launch of unmanned CLVs carrying either an unmanned Cargo CEV or satellites into Low Earth Orbit . If a LC-34 CLV facility is built, it would somewhat resemble Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California , in which all elements of the CEV would be stacked together on-site as opposed to the stacking of the elements in the VAB and transporting them to either LC-39A or 39B. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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