The photos below are what we saw.
Due to
the "early hour" and overcast, the parking area at the beach was
deserted. The coastal brush was dense.
We
traveled south to Titusville and found a nice place to camp near
Merrit Island. The next morning we headed to the Kennedy
Space Center (KSC). This facility was designed to handle
massive numbers of tourists and we were lucky that the day we
chose to go was sunny, warm and minimal crowds.
The
launch vehicle exhibit near the entrance was impressive.
From L to R (and from memory) Redstone, Atlas, Jupiter, Delta,
Atlas, Titan-Centaur. Back in the day, I used to work for
General Dynamics which produced the Atlas and Atlas-Centaur
rockets. And Tomahawk cruise missile, F-16, etc.
These launch vehicles were the backbone of our early space
exploration program.
This
engine assembly is on a Titan missile. In addition to
being used in combination with the Centaur upper stage as a
launch vehicle, the Titan was also part of the U.S.'s ballistic
missile defense system during the cold war.
I failed
to note the specific model of this engine, but I am going to
guess it is an F-1. The tourists at the lower right of the
photo above gives a sense of scale. The main pipe at the
front center of the photo extracts some exhaust gas from the
cone and routes it to a set of turbopumps that feed the engine
fuel. These pumps act like a turbocharger on a truck --
the higher the demand, the more fuel gets pumped in a positive
feedback cycle.
An
entire building was dedicated to the space shuttle program.
In front, a full-scale example of the solid rocket boosters
(white) and hydrogen-oxygen fuel tank (orange)
Inside
the building was the actual Atlantis shuttle, complete with all
the "battle scars" from its many missions. This shuttle
was the last vehicle to service the Hubble telescope.
Atlantis was first launched in 1985 and was retired in 2011
after 33 missions.
The
underside of Atlantis displays the usage-scarred heat resistant
tiles.
The
cargo bay on the shuttle was 60 feet long. This is a big spacecraft.
The robotic arm inside the cargo bay was used to hold and
manipulate the Hubble during servicing.
The odd
assembly to the left of the robotic arm is a docking device for
the International Space Station.
The
hatch doors for the cargo bay were used as thermal radiators to
remove accumulated heat from inside the shuttle. The
traces of the plumbing are visible in the doors.
The
scale of the engines is apparent from the tourists.
The
damage to the heat resistant tiles is clearly visible in the
photo above.
The tiles were one of
the key technologies that allowed the shuttle airframe to be
reusable. They were also the cause of one of the two
fatal failures during the shuttle's operational service.
"In for
a penny, in for a pound" is what I usually say. In this
case, we paid extra for a "special interest" bus tour that took
us to the operational portions of the KSC. One of the
stops gave us a view of some of the many launch pads at KSC/Cape
Canaveral AFB. The tall building in the center is the VAB
(vehicle assembly building) and is over 500' tall. The white
towers are lightning rods to protect structures and launch
vehicles.
Hurricane
Irma damaged this pier but it is still usable by the local
waterfowl.
KSC/Cape
Canaveral sits astride several waterways and a bridge and
causeway system connects the various sections of the site.
Being a
bus tour, we only stopped where we were allowed to stop.
We were not allowed to stop and see the launch transporter
crawler that travels from the VAB to the actual launch
pad. This roadway, made of crushed limestone 7 feet thick,
is the path traveled by the launch vehicles.
The tour
took us past launch site 39A and B. These are active sites
and therefore we were not allowed to stop. Note the camera
on the pole at the center of the photo above.
39A has
a huge water tank mounted on a tower. The water is used
for noise control. The Saturn V rocket was so loud that it
produced sound pressure levels of 208 dB measured a mile
away. The entire tank is dumped in just a few seconds when
the launch is started.
One of the remote
camera sites was right on the shore of the Atlantic. The
sandbagged structure was added after a generator used to power
the site was damaged by the intense sound produced during the
launch of the Saturn V. The device on the tripod is a
location reference for beach reconstruction that is being
performed just north of the site.
One of the remote
cameras at the site.
Pad 39B has been
"cleaned" of previous structures to allow construction of
facilities to support the new SLS rocket system. The
lightning rods are clearly visible as well as the liquid
hydrogen storage tank at the far right of the photo above.
Operations in
tropical areas present unusual challenges. Alligators
are plentiful in this area and have been known to actually
enter office buildings. Employees are told to check
under vehicles for 'gators prior to driving away. The
gator above was sunning next to one of the many small
structures on the site.
The VAB (vehicle
assembly building) was a wonder to behold. For scale,
the stars on the flag are 6 feet in diameter.
A mock-up of the
escape rocket for the SLS Orion project was on display near
the VAB.
Our last stop on the
tour was the Saturn V moon launch facility. A
presentation was given in the actual room used to control the
launch that put U.S. astronauts on the moon.
After the
presentations we were discharged into the bay used to hold the
Saturn rocket. This fellow is huge.
This is one of the
F-1 motors.
The second stage had
smaller motors.
The upper stage of
the Saturn had only one engine. The spheres are pressure
vessels that maintain fuel tank pressure as the fuel is
consumed. They likely contained liquid nitrogen.
The actual Apollo 14
capsule was on display. Note the heat damage from
re-entry.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2018, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.