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From: glc@akgua.UUCP (G.L. Cleveland [Lindsay])
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Answer to: What do you call the "blockhouse" now?
Message-ID: <1590@akgua.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Jul-85 15:09:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: akgua.1590
Posted: Sat Jul 20 15:09:53 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 02:03:34 EDT
References: <112@cpsc53a.UUCP> <303@pyramid.UUCP> <775@burl.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Technologies/Bell Labs, Atlanta
Lines: 45


  The earlier launch pads at Cape Canaveral all had "blockhouses"
which were made larger and with thicker walls as the launch
vehicles got bigger.  (One is not supposed to call them "Missiles"
and "Rockets"...NASA only has "launch vehicles")

  These earlier pads were constructed in the days before digital
data links were around, so all the connections between the control
panels and the pad were discrete copper wires, one per signal.  For
gauge readings and other analog controls (potentiometers), there
was always a physical limit as to how long the wire could be before
the signal became unreliable.

  With the Apollo Project and the *huge* Saturn V launch vehicle,
(much larger than the Space Shuttle), the need to move back a few miles
changed the design of the pads.  Now you have the crawlerway to
move the entire vehicle and its launch pedestal from the assembly
building out to the pad.  That pedestal internally contains two
floors of equipment, including a computer system which is
data-linked to another computer system back at the control
panel complex (what you see everyone sitting at on the TV shots of
"Our dedicated and skilled technicians")

  To (finally) answer the question; it is called the Launch Control
Center (LCC).  It has windows facing the pad(s) which have steel
blast shutters over them.  These are closed whenever there is fuel
aboard the vehicle and during launch.  Those windows make it a lot
less claustrophobic for the day-to-day working folks.  Those older
blockhouses gave you a feeling like being in "Der Fuhrers Bunker!"
You had a periscope to see out with, and that was all!

  Another reason for the LCC is economy.  Before, you would have one
blockhouse per pad.  With the Apollo program, it was planned to
have two pads, with possible expansion to more.  With data-link
techniques, one LCC could be used for all the pads.  You merely
switch the LCC's computer hook-up to the desired pad's computer.

  OK trivia buffs: what kind of computers (manufacturer, operating
system, etc.) do they have in the LCC and launch pedestal?

Cheers,
  Lindsay

Lindsay Cleveland  (akgua!glc) (404) 447-3909   Cornet 583-3909
AT&T Technologies/Bell Laboratories ... Atlanta, Ga