Word: pads
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Suddenly the withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Lebanon began to gather momentum, and by the end of last weekend it was just about over. Wave after wave of Sea Knight and Sea Stallion helicopters ferried equipment and supplies from a coastal landing pad near Beirut International Airport to the waiting ships of the U.S. Sixth Fleet outlined, gray on gray, on the horizon. Nudged by a forklift truck, a long-barreled 155-mm howitzer trundled slowly down a jetty and disappeared, like Jonah into the whale, inside a landing craft; it was followed by a procession of Jeeps and other...
Until 1969, Vandenberg was the planned launch site for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). Congress canceled the construction of the launch pad when it was months away from completion. After the shuttle launch complex was approved and funded, the Air Force figured that it could save $100 million to $300 million by converting the MOL site rather than building from scratch. In fact, the most imposing structure at Slick Six, the 285-ft.-high Mobile Service Tower, is a refitted and slightly shortened version of a MOL facility. The Air Force also cannibalized the steel used in that structure, constructing...
...service tower will neatly unite with the Shuttle Assembly Building, a structure that will be 250 ft. high and weigh 3,000 tons when it reaches completion in late 1984. Approaching the launch pad from a direction opposite to the service tower, it will neatly "mate," as the engineers like to put it, with the other building to form an enclosed, weather-protected space where the rest of the shuttle vehicle can be assembled. Like the tower, the assembly building will have a crane in its roof. Together the two machines can hoist the empty, 154.4-ft.-long...
...Shuttle Assembly Building was not part of the original design of the Vandenberg launch pad. Early plans called for vehicle assembly to take place in the semienclosed environment of the service tower, with the tower's crane and a second device, called a strongback, attached to the Launch Mount Tower, to perform all the hoisting. The system called for a tolerance limit of as much as ¼ in. in fitting the orbiter to the tank. NASA said no, setting the maximum permissible degree of variation at a minuscule ³¹/iooo...
...final distinctive features of the launch pad are three massive flame ducts, each 50 ft. high and 70 ft. wide, that will vent the tremendous energy released during lift-offs. Seven seconds before takeoff, an underground pipe 10 ft. in diameter will flood the ducts in less than 30 seconds with about half a million gallons of water. The water will be stored in two tanks. The 6,000° F heat produced by the shuttle will be tamed by the liquid, generating huge billows of steam from the ducts during and after the launch. At Cape Canaveral, the vents...