Word: vandenberg
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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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...
...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...
Unlike the cargo on current flights, Vandenberg payloads such as meteorological and navigational satellites will not have to be placed in bulky canisters to keep them free of contamination. Instead the devices will be taken into the Payload Changeout Room, Slick Six's third movable building. This 158-ft.-high, 6,000-ton structure moves by rail toward the waiting assembly building, where a mammoth door of six panels, each measuring 30 ft. high and 130 ft. wide, will slowly rise, just like a garage door. Inside the building-within-a-building, the payload will be lifted into...
...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 are lined with firebrick; at Vandenberg, they are made from approximately 130,000 cu. yds. of solid concrete. A special vacuuming process was applied to the concrete while it was setting. This sucked out air and moisture quickly, resulting in a nonporous surface that will better resist cracking during blastoff...
Slick Six's inaugural launch in October 1985 will employ the newest shuttle, Discovery, now being checked out at Cape Canaveral. The exact mission will be top secret, as will all shuttle flights from Air Force-run Vandenberg, but it has been reported that the main job on that first flight will be to ferry two satellites into space. Since Discovery will be placed in a polar orbit, its ground track will cover the Soviet Union. One of those satellites could be a new hush-hush communications package, and the other a device equipped with infrared sensors to spot...