Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!jarthur!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!deccrl!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!cf-cm!csisles!shortley
From: shortley@CompSci.Bristol.AC.UK (Martyn Shortley)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: KSC and tornados
Message-ID: <1698@csisles.Bristol.AC.UK>
Date: 12 Apr 91 12:32:44 GMT
References: <27967@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, University of Bristol, UK.
Lines: 38

From article <27967@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>, by bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt):
> In article <1991Apr11.161508.29856@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>>In article <1991Apr10.213011.8851@umiami.ir.miami.edu> jdeitch@umiami.ir.miami.edu (Jonathan Deitch) writes:
>>>... Would a shuttle on the launch pad be able
>>>to withstand a tornado without too much damage...
>>
>>Probably.  The pad structure, nowadays, pretty completely encloses the
>>orbiter, so the question is how the pad hardware would stand up to it.
>>Such structures tend to be built for worst-case weather.
> 
> But one of the design constraints on the MLP transporter is that it
> had to be able to bring the whole setup back to the VAB quickly enough
> to avoid hurricanes or other severe weather, right?
> 
> I'd guess that hurricanes and tornados would have similar effects on
> the pad/shuttle (aside from duration and advance warning), and they
> felt it necessary to protect the system from hurricanes...
> 


When I came over to the US last year, there were 2 or 3 big storms over
Florida and the Shuttle that was on the pad was sent back to the VAB.
It was in the VAB for a couple of days whilst the storms passed, even though
the conditions at KSC weren't too bad.  During this time a work colleague &
I both visited KSC (on different days) & neither of us saw a shuttle on the
launch pad :-(.  The day after, the shuttle was taken back to the pad !

Regards,
Martyn Shortley

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