[guide.chat] kennedy space centre
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 23:09:00 +0100
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the United States launch site that
has been used for every NASA human space flight since 1968. Although such
flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned
rocket launch facilities for the US government's civilian space program from
three pads at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its Vehicle
Assembly Building (VAB) is the fourth-largest structure in the world by
volume[2] and was the largest when completed in 1965.[3]
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape
Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on
Florida's Space Coast. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly 6 miles (10 km)
wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). A total of 13,100 people worked at
the center as of 2011. Approximately 2,100 are employees of the federal
government; the rest are contractors.[4]
STS-60 shuttle launch from Pad 39A on February 3, 1994
Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from Pads A and
B at Launch Complex 39 (LC-39). Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (5 km) east
of the VAB. From 1969?1972, LC-39 was the departure point for all six Apollo
manned Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful
operational launch vehicle in history, and was used from 1981?2011 for all
Space Shuttle launches. The Shuttle Landing Facility, located just to the
north, was used for most Shuttle landings and is among the longest runways in
the world.[5]
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are
located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters
Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation
Facility. KSC was also home to the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data
Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking
complex. The center operates its own short-line railroad.
KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one
hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Visitor Complex offers public tours of
the center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Because much of the
installation is a restricted area and only nine percent of the land is
developed, the site also serves as an important wildlife sanctuary; Mosquito
Lagoon, Indian River, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral
National Seashore are other features of the area. Center workers can encounter
Bald Eagles, American alligators, wild boars, Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes,
Florida panthers and Florida manatees. KSC is one of ten major NASA field
centers, and has several facilities listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.
Kennedy Space Center was created and has evolved to meet the changing needs of
America's manned space program, initially in competition with the Soviet Union.
What is today KSC was authorized in 1958 during the administration of President
Dwight D. Eisenhower. The facility was originally known as the Launch
Operations Directorate (LOD), reporting to the Marshall Space Flight Center in
Alabama.
[edit]1960s
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a lunar landing before 1970 led to an
expansion of NASA operations from a few buildings in the Industrial Area of
Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (later Cape Canaveral Air Force Station),
notably Hangar S, to Merritt Island. NASA began land acquisition in 1962,
buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of
Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2).[6] The major buildings in
KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman.[7]
On July 1, 1962, the site was renamed the Launch Operations Center, achieving
equal status with other NASA centers; and on November 29, 1963, the facility
received its current name by Executive Order 11129 following Kennedy's death.[8]
[edit]Mercury and Gemini
Main articles: Project Mercury and Project Gemini
The U.S. accomplished a manned lunar landing in three stages?Mercury, Gemini
and Apollo. Mercury's objectives were to place a manned spacecraft in earth
orbit, investigate human performance and ability to function in space, and
safely recover the astronaut and spacecraft. Although Mercury was directed by
NASA, launches were from the U.S. Air Force's Cape Canaveral Missile Test
Annex. The first two manned tests used the Redstone booster from LC-5 for the
1961 suborbital flights of Alan Shepard on May 5 (the first American in space)
and Gus Grissom on July 21. The first American in orbit, and the first carried
by the larger Atlas D rocket, was John Glenn, launched from LC-14 on February
20, 1962. Three more orbital flights followed.
The more complex two-man Gemini spacecraft, and its Titan II booster, based on
the military ICBM, helped carry out rendezvous and docking and extra-vehicular
activity missions critical for Apollo. Twelve Gemini missions were launched
from Cape Canaveral's LC-19, the last ten of which were manned. The first
manned flight, Gemini 3, took place on March 23, 1965. The final flight, Gemini
12, launched on November 11, 1966.
[edit]Apollo
Main articles: Apollo program and List of Apollo missions
A Saturn V carrying Apollo 15 rolls out to Pad 39A in 1971 on Mobile Launch
Platform 1.
The Apollo program required larger launchers?the Saturn family of boosters. The
two-stage Saturn I and IB rockets were erected and launched at the Cape's
Launch Complexes 34 and 37. The first Saturn launch, SA-1, came on October 27,
1961 from LC-34. On January 27, 1967, the crew for the first planned manned
Apollo mission, AS-204 (also designated Apollo 1), Gus Grissom, Ed White and
Roger Chaffee died by fire on the same pad atop a Saturn IB; the first
spacecraft-related astronaut deaths. After significant changes to the
spacecraft, Apollo 7 was launched from LC-34 into earth orbit using a Saturn IB
on October 11, 1968.
[edit]Launch Complex 39
Main article: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39
The VAB (center) in 1999 with the LCC jutting out from its right and Pads A and
B in the distance
Missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket (111 m high
and 10 m in diameter). At KSC, Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was built on Merritt
Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project
began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (a
planned Pad C was canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the
infrastructure by late 1966. The complex included a hangar capable of holding
four Saturn Vs, the VAB (130 million ft³); a transporter capable of carrying
5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads; and a 446-foot (136
m) mobile service structure. Three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each with a fixed
launch umbilical tower, were also built. LC-39 also includes the Launch Control
Center and a news media site.
From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V lift-offs, including the ten
remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of three unmanned flights,
Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket
launch from KSC itself. The Saturn V's first manned launch on December 21, 1968
was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar
Module: Apollo 9 (earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched
from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. Apollo 12
followed four months later.
[edit]1970s
From 1970?1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of
missions 13 through 17. On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the
Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. Pad B, modified for Saturn IBs, was
used to launch three manned missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final
Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo?Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a
science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial, also when
the U.S. flag was painted on the building. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was
reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities
were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.
[edit]1980s?2000s: Space Shuttle
Main articles: Space Shuttle program and List of space shuttle missions
The Kennedy Space Center became the launch site for the Space Shuttle program
beginning in 1981. The initial launch, Columbia on April 12, 1981, was the
first of a vehicle with astronauts aboard which had no prior unmanned launch.
Shuttle Atlantis is moved to Pad 39A for the 1990 launch of STS-36.
KSC's 2.9 mile (4.6 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters'
primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not
take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on
February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force
Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also
provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized.
After 24 successful shuttle flights, Challenger was torn apart 73 seconds after
the launch of STS-51-L on January 28, 1986; the first shuttle launch from Pad
39B and the first U.S. manned launch failure, killing the seven crew members.
An O-ring seal in the right booster rocket failed at liftoff, leading to
subsequent structural failures. Flights resumed on September 29, 1988 with
STS-26 after extensive modifications to many aspects of the shuttle program.
On February 1, 2003, Columbia and her crew of seven were lost during re-entry
over Texas during the STS-107 mission (the 113th shuttle flight); a vehicle
breakup triggered by damage sustained during launch from Pad 39A on January 16,
when a piece of foam insulation from the orbiter's external fuel tank struck
the orbiter's left wing. During reentry, the damage created a hole allowing hot
gases to melt the wing structure. Like the Challenger disaster, the resulting
investigation and modifications interrupted shuttle flight operations at KSC
for more than two years until the STS-114 launch on July 26, 2005.
The shuttle program experienced five main engine shutdowns at LC-39, all within
four seconds before launch; and one abort to orbit, STS-51-F on July 29, 1985.
Shuttle missions during nearly 30 years of operations included deploying
satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science and technology
experiments, visits to the Russian MIR space station, construction and
servicing of the International Space Station, deployment and servicing of the
Hubble Space Telescope and serving as a space laboratory. The shuttle was
retired from service in July 2011 after 135 launches.
On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first unmanned
launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.
[edit]2010s
The end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 produced a significant downsizing
of the KSC workforce similar to that experienced at the end of the Apollo
program in 1972; NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle for
continuation of human spaceflight. Pad 39A has been left in its space shuttle
launch configuration; Pad B has been dismantled to its base.
As part of this downsizing, 6,000 contractors lost their jobs at the Center
during 2010 and 2011.[9]
[edit]Facilities
official visitor map of KSC industrial area
Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to
launch, and in some cases recover, manned and unmanned missions. Facilities are
available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The
headquarters (HQ) building houses offices for the Center Director, library,
film and photo archives, a print shop and security.[10]
Payloads are received processed and integrated together in the Operations and
Checkout (OC) building dating back to the 1960's with the Gemini and Apollo
programs, 70's with the Skylab program and 80's and 90's for initial segments
of the International Space Station.[11] The three-story, 457,000 square feet
(42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two processing
bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and
office space for support of non-hazardous Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO
14644-1 class 5 standards.[12] The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features
a 71 feet (22 m) x 38 feet (12 m) door where payloads which are processed in
the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with 2 overhead cranes and
a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).[13] The Hypergolic
Maintenance and Checkout Facility (HMCF) comprises three buildings which are
isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous
materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that make up the space
shuttles orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and
auxiliary power units are stored and serviced in the HMCF.[14]
[edit]Unmanned NASA launches at Cape Canaveral
Pioneer 1 atop its launcher
NASA's first launch, Pioneer 1, came on October 11, 1958 from Cape Canaveral's
LC-17A using a Thor-Able booster. The civilian agency has used launch pads at
Cape Canaveral AFS ever since for many unmanned launches ranging from
satellites to lunar probes, including the Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter
programs during the 1960s.
NASA has also launched communications and weather satellites from Launch
Complexes 40 and 41, built at the north end of the Cape in 1964 by the Air
Force for its Titan IIIC and Titan IV rockets. From 1974?1977 the powerful
Titan IIIE served as the heavy-lift vehicle for NASA, launching the Viking and
Voyager series of planetary spacecraft and the Cassini?Huygens Saturn probe
from LC-41.
NASA currently uses three Cape Canaveral pads: SLC-41 for the Atlas V and
SLC-37B for the Delta IV, both for heavy payloads; and SLC-17B for Delta II
launches.
Launch Services Program (LSP) is responsible for NASA oversight of launch
operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches at Cape
Canaveral.
[edit]Weather
A Mercury Redstone rocket on display at Gate 3 was toppled by Hurricane Frances
on September 7, 2004.
Florida's peninsular shape and temperature contrasts between land and ocean
provide ideal conditions for electrical storms, earning Central Florida the
reputation as "lightning capital of the United States".[15][16] This makes
extensive lightning protection and detection systems necessary to protect
employees, structures and spacecraft on launch pads safe.[17] On November 14,
1969, Apollo 12 was struck by lightning just after lift-off from Pad 39A, but
the flight continued safely. The most powerful lightning strike recorded at KSC
occurred at LC-39B on August 25, 2006 while shuttle Atlantis was being prepared
for STS-115. NASA managers were initially concerned that the lightning strike
caused damage to Atlantis, but none was found.
In October 2004, Hurricane Charley caused an estimated $700,000 in damage to
KSC. On September 7, 2004, Hurricane Frances directly hit the area with
sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) and gusts up to 94 miles per
hour (151 km/h), the most damaging storm to date. The Vehicle Assembly Building
lost 1,000 exterior panels, each 3.9 feet (1.2 m) x 9.8 feet (3.0 m) in size.
This exposed 39,800 sq ft (3,700 m2) of the building to the elements. Damage
occurred to the south and east sides of the VAB. The shuttle's Thermal
Protection System Facility suffered extensive damage. The roof was partially
torn off and the interior suffered water damage. Several rockets on display in
the center were toppled.[18] Further damage to KSC was caused by Hurricane
Wilma in October 2005.
[edit]KSC directors
Dr. Kurt Debus, first director of KSC
Since KSC's formation, ten NASA officials have served as directors, including
three former astronauts (Crippen, Bridges and Cabana):
Name Start End Reference
Dr. Kurt H. Debus July 1962 November 1974 [19]
Lee R. Scherer January 19, 1975 September 2, 1979 [20]
Richard G. Smith September 26, 1979 August 2, 1986 [21]
Forrest S. McCartney August 31, 1987 December 31, 1991 [22]
Robert L. Crippen January 1992 January 1995 [23]
Jay F. Honeycutt January 1995 March 2, 1997 [24]
Roy D. Bridges, Jr. March 2, 1997 August 9, 2003 [25]
James W. Kennedy August 9, 2003 January 2007 [26]
William W. Parsons January 2007 October 2008 [27]
Robert D. Cabana October 2008 present [28]
[edit]Labor force
A total of 13,100 people worked at the center as of 2011. Approximately 2,100
are employees of the federal government; the rest are contractors.[4] The
average annual salary for an on-site worker in 2008 was $77,235.[29]
[edit]Visitor Complex
Main article: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Gate to the KSC Visitor Complex in 2006; Explorer, a Space Shuttle mock-up, is
in the background
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since
1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the
history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate
from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north
of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near
Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees
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