Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B Construction Photos

Page 56

FSS/RSS Panorama From Across the Flame Trench (Original Scan)



Just another look at the whole thing.

Mid-winter day in Florida, (much colder than people think it's supposed to get in Florida), northwest wind cutting across the pad deck, dewpoints down in the teens, brilliant late-morning sunshine.

I had just delivered one of the Hurricane Locks up to the pad deck (and we'll get more into that with the images on the next page), and had my camera with me.

And so, considering the brilliant lighting, and I had a few minutes to spare, and the fact that I was positioned across the Flame Trench far enough away to take in both towers, I very reasonably pulled out the camera and grabbed some frames.

Closest to the camera in this image, bottom center of the frame, you're looking at one of the SSW supply pipes that goes to the underside of the MLP at Deck B, near its Side-1/Side-4 Corner, which is the southeast corner of the MLP when it's sitting on its support pedestals out on the pad.

That water comes through the pipe pretty forcefully, so the strength of the pipe itself, just to deal with the water it carries, is also more than enough to preclude any requirement for additional support framing for the small access platform which you see surrounding the pipe near its top. The pipe itself is capped, and does not look like this on its very top, when the MLP is involved with things. More on that, in a bit, too.

Find the location of this SSW Pipe on the pad deck, here.

In the bottom-right corner of the frame, Elmo McBee, one of Wilhoit's ironworker foremen, is headed toward the RSS Hurricane Lock work area with his hardhat pulled down in an unusual way, and I cannot remember whether or not he was goofing around for the camera, or had it pulled down that way for some other reason. But for whatever reason, that hardhat is not quite right.

In this view, we're getting a pretty good look, squarely face-on, at the Hinge Column and the Struts which tied it back to the FSS, as well as all the crossover catwalks, cable trays, and stuff that lived between the RSS and the FSS in this area. The part down towards the bottom that's blocked from view by the SSW Pipe will become visible in one of the images on the next page, and for now, it's enough to consider that which is visible in this area. There is much to be considered.

Zoom way in on the image. Walk around up there for a while. Maybe pick a small platform in an out of the way place, work your way to it across the stairs and catwalks and linger there for a bit of time. Listen to the wind as it blows through the open structure. Feel the chill of the handrail against the palm of your hand. Gaze out across the wilderness from on high for a bit. Consider the view through the steel-bar grating beneath the soles of your boots. It's cold, but you've got your jacket on, and when you stand in the lee of the wind, facing southeast into the radiant heat of that glorious Florida Sun, it's very pleasant, isn't it?

Yes. Yes it is. It's a very fine day to be up on the tower today.