Launch Pad 39A (tour)
Kennedy Space Center
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| Launch Pad 39A (tour) showing where flame jets shoot out |
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| Liquid oxygen tank. The liquid hydrogen is kept far on the other side of the launch pad. |
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| Water tower dumps 300,000 gallons of water into the flame trench at launch. More for sound suppression, than for cooling. More damage to the pad is caused by noise than by heat. |
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| Canal for water drainage at launch. Emergency cables lead from Pad39A... |
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| ...to the seven baskets at the top of the launch pad... |
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| ...where astronauts in danger would wait in this bunker for further Instructions, perhaps to drive to one of several nearby helipads. An armored personnel carrier is parked outside the bunker for every launch, and all astronauts are trained to drive it. |
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| The Crawler uses hydraulics to carry the shuttle and booster stack perfectly vertically at all times, even up this grade to 39A. This is shot from the middle of one road, not from the median between two roads. The Crawler is a big thing. |