Kennedy Space Center Up-Close Mega Tour Pt I - Pad 39A

[Ishthe47guy]

Rather than go out to clubs and bars to try and chat up all these lonely expat women here in this sand-covered sanctuary, figured it would be time better spent posting a bunch of photos I took at KSC while I was stateside on vacation last year.

The mega tour combines the Vehicle Assembly building and Pad 39A in addition to the Saturn V Museum. Some photos had to be taken from the bus, but at least they stop so you can take photos at certain locations. Sit on the left side of the bus for the best view.

Looking up the crawler ramp from inside the bus:

This was one of the stops where you could get out and walk around:

The next stop was the flame trench for the Solid Rocket Boosters:

The flame shield is covered in a heat resistant concrete called Fondu Fyre:

The clean room on the gantry. Tour guide pointed out that NASA cut off the now unneeded top 80 ft of the tower since the shuttle was shorter than the S V's

Edited February 22, 2014 by Ishthe47guy

[Ishthe47guy]

Tour guide showing a drawing of the next generation launch pad escape system to replace the baskets on cables. It was designed by a company that designed several roller coasters for Disney:

The recievers at the bottom of the basket ride:

Entrance to the underground bunker. This area was used in the last Men In Black film, where the villain was incinerated by the rocket exhaust, with some thrown in special effects:

Close-up as I could get of the receivers:

True story from the tour guide... NASA uses a M113 armored personnel carrier to move the astronauts and firefighters around the launchpad in case of an accident. As such, all the astronauts need to know how to drive the M113. While doing some operator training, one of the astronauts drove the vehicle into the ditch in the photo. The sign was put up shorty afterwards. Yes, it was a female astronaut driving...

Back side of the pad. You can see the cables for the basket escape system.

[Ishthe47guy]

I think these were the side panels of the launch pad flame diverters, which is why it has both flame wear patterns. They are also covered in Fondu Fyre.

[TomcatFanatic123]

Thanks for these AWESOME photos!

[GreyGhost]

Really interesting photos, Ish!

Thanks for sharing them ...

-Gregg

[Liberator24]

Holy Crap!!!! That is freaking awesome!!!!!

-JIm

[Ishthe47guy]

Thanks for the kind words and glad that you guys are enjoying them.

If I had pullable hair, I'd have fistfuls out of frustration because of the reduction in sharpness that happens whenever I post photos. Flikr no longer accepts new accounts, the same thing is happening when I use Imageshack (paid account), and I've just gone back to my paid P-bucket account. Co-worker has told me about Smug Mug, might give them a try.

[dylan]

awesome shots Chris, thanks for posting them.

I switched to smugmug about a year ago, and I love them

[mightymax]

Thanks for these.

My family and I were there 8 years ago. We just did the basic tour cause I couldn't afford the upgrade. Still the basic tour was cool but I wished to get closer. Now I have :-)

Max Bryant

[coneheadff]

Thanks for sharing!!!!

I still could kick myself in the b... for not doing the bus trip, but I just couldn't convince my eleven year old to sit in the bus for 90 minutes.

[Frank99]

Here's a detailed virtual view of KSC's Pad 39A configured with Space Shuttle infrastructure.

http://nasatech.net/ntSubPad39A_PAGE.html

 

Here's Tower 'B' inside the VAB (many more images to come)

http://nasatech.net/ntVAB_PAGE.html

 

Here's Pad 39B during it's reconfiguration for the SLS.

http://nasatech.net/ntSubPad39B_PAGE.html

 

Here's a virtual view of the new Mobile Launcher for SLS.

http://nasatech.net/MobileLauncher/

 

Here's a virtual view of the upgraded Crawler/Transporter.

http://nasatech.net/ntCT-2_PAGE.html

 

Here's the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana just after the first Orion Ground Test Article was welded together.  There are several shots of the last 2 External Tanks for the last Shuttle missions as they are prepped for delivery to KSC.

http://nasatech.net/ntMAF_PAGE.html