The Construction of Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B

A very personal and technical written and photographic history, by James MacLaren.

Contents

Main Story Pages Part 1: Sheffield Steel

Substory Pages

Page 1 Introduction - General Overview.

Tracking the Steel: RSS Various.

Page 2 Introduction - An Arrival at the Pad.

Tracking the Steel: HFL 161-209.

Page 3 Introduction - First Look, Basic Elements.

Tracking the Steel: Orbiter Mold Line Grating Panels 135.

Page 4 Introduction - Entering the Pad.

Page 5 Space Shuttle Launch Pad, Viewed From the Beach Access Road.

Page 6 Early Morning, and Things Are Now Happening. (This is where we REALLY start learning how the Launch Pad is put together.)

Home Life: At The Space Museum... In Reactive Air.

Page 7 RSS Continued Progress in the Early Days.

Home Life: In The Atlas Motors... Hands-On With Fire.

Page 8 Stub Clusters, Stair Towers, Heavy Pipes, Hinge Columns, and Framing Steel.

Home Life: Shimmering Heat Of Summer... Flowers Of Evil.

Page 9 Looking Back At The Ground, Our First Trip Up On The Tower.

Home Life: Driving The Atlas... Preparing For Nuclear War.

Page 10 RCS Room Panorama.

Home Life: The Birthday, Favorite Toy, Flame Deflector.

Page 11 MacLaren's Desk in the Sheffield Steel Field Trailer at Pad 39-B.

Home Life: Generations... Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Page 12 At the Drawing Board, Inside the Sheffield Steel Field Trailer at Pad B.

Page 13 Skip Box.

Page 14 Fixed Service Structure.

Page 41 North Pad Deck Elements

Page 15 Outside the Sheffield Steel Field Trailer, Let's Take a Break.

Page 16 And What Did You Do While You Were There?

1 FSS.

Page 17 Wilhoit's Falsework From Underneath.

2 Pad/MLP Utilities Interface Platform.

Page 18 Column Line 7.

3 West MLP Access Stair Number 2.

Page 19 James MacLaren Beneath the RSS.

4 Elevator Number 2.

Page 20 A Drive Down Beach Road.

5 9099 Building.

Page 21 A Return to High Steel.

6 ECS Platform.

Page 22 Platforms. Framing. Steel.

7 MLP "Rain Gutters" "Downspout".

Page 23 Flame Trench.

8 MLP Mount Mechanisms.

Page 24 Elevation 112' Lower Hypergol World, TSM Hinged Stair of Doom.

9 LOX Tower.

Page 25 Looking Back Across From Stair Tower 3.

10 North Piping Bridge.

Page 26 VAB and LUT Viewed Through Column Line 7.

11 LH2 Tower.

Page 27 Heavy Iron and Office Trailers.

12 High Pressure Gas Tower.

Page 28 VAB Between RCS Room And Hoist Equipment Room.

13 East Stair Tower.

Page 29 RCS Room Interior Platforms - Forward Reaction Control System Area.

Page 30 RSS Orbiter Crew Cabin Area - Forward RCS Area.

Page 31 Monorail Transfer Doors.

Page 32 Aft Payload Bay Area and Aft Fuselage Area.

Page 33 RSS, Morning Light, Morning Shadow.

Page 34 Of Flame Deflectors and Handrails.

Page 35 Top of the FSS and the Hammerhead Crane.

Page 36 Of Planks and PGHM's, of Torque Tubes and CAP's.

Page 37 Looking Down From Vehicle Access Platform, Elevation 191'-0".

Page 38 Growing Up With Rockets. And Rattlesnakes.

Page 39 Of Silence and Symphonies. Of Dew and Good Sports.

Page 40 In the Distance.

Page 41 North Pad Deck. Lingering Shadows of Apollo.

Page 42 RSS Hurricane Tie-downs.

Page 43 RSS/FSS Panorama, a Magic Spell Unbroken.

Page 44 Out On The End of the Hammerhead Crane.

Page 45 Components Visible From End of Hammerhead Crane.

Page 46 Getting Ready to Roll.

Page 47 First Rotate..

Page 48 First Retract.

Page 49 An End. And A Beginning.

Index 1 Index to The Construction of Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B Part 1

Note: Indexing is only a very incomplete placeholder at this time, and is not to be considered definitive in any way.

Main Story Pages Part 2: Ivey Steel

Page 50 A Return to the Pad.

Page 51 A Colossal Blocky Presence.

Page 52 A Lighter Moment in a Heavy Place, and the Canister Hoisting System.

Page 53 Hanging the Iron, PBK & Contingency Platform Mods.

Page 54 Grinding the Iron, PCR Main Floor Orbiter Mold Line Framing Modifications.

Page 55 TPS Inspection Spider Basket Extensible Pipe Boom Psychosis.

Page 56 Payload Changeout Room Main Doors - Complete System.

Page 57 Union Ironworkers.

Page 58 Lost Worlds.

Page 59 Crawlerway, Ziggurat, Buried Stone Castle - Lingering Shadows of Apollo.

Page 60 OMS Pod Heated Purge Covers, a Nightmare in the Making.

Page 61 New OMS Pod Covers, Preparations for the ARCS Rooms, and More.

Page 62 Gox Arm Hinges Strongback Lift ...and the RSS Bottom Truss Lift, too.

Page 63 79K24048 as Backdrop For A Shuttle Landing Family Day and Centaur Porch.

Page 64 Orbiter Mid-Body Umbilical Unit (OMBUU) Lift. Intro to the Guide Columns.

Page 65 On the Left SRB Access Platform with Tommy Northcutt and Carlton D. Taylor.

Page 66 GOX Arm Lift, plus Further Submergence into the Guide Columns Murk.

Page 67 GOX Arm Beanie Cap Lift, plus Junky Stuff at Top of FSS.

Page 68 Intertank Access Arm Lift, FSS Origins Story, Hydrogen, Art & Aesthetics.

Page 69 Intertank Access Arm Lift, Final Bolt-up.

Page 70 IAA Lift, Steve Parker and James MacLaren on the Crossover Catwalk.

Page 71 Orbiter Access Arm, Prelift Work in the Flame Trench.

Index 2 Index to The Construction of Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B Part 2

Note: Indexing is only a very incomplete placeholder at this time, and is not to be considered definitive in any way.

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