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Author
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Topic: Apollo Mobile Launcher parking area
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-05-2023 10:00 PM
  
This rollout photo is dated May 25, 1966. It shows Mobile Launcher-1 (ML-1) carrying the Saturn V AS-500F test vehicle to Pad 39A. ML-2 and ML-3 are parked north of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It is the earliest I have seen all three numbers painted on the mobile launchers. Oddly, when the mobile launchers were being constructed, ML-1 was in the west parking spot, where ML-3 is in the photo.  |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-05-2023 11:24 PM
Here is a 1964 photo of the three Mobile Launchers under construction. It is a view from the opposite direction of the first photo. ML-1 is on the left in the west parking spot.As I see it, ML-1 and ML-3 must have swapped parking spots at some point before the AS-500F rollout.  |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-06-2023 08:44 PM
Apparently, the launch umbilical towers had commissioning plaques. Well, at least LUT-2 did. The plaque was removed from LUT-2 before it was dismantled. It says "Launcher-Umbilical Tower Number 2 Erected 1964" on the plaque. The LUT-2 plaque was sold at auction in 2016.Has anyone seen similar plaques for LUT-1 and LUT-3?  |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-07-2023 08:48 PM
In the first photo, it looks like both the LUT-2 and LUT-3 crane hooks have been lowered. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-08-2023 11:44 AM
The yellow pillars that support the Mobile Launchers in the parking area can be seen in the above photos. When Apollo 10 rolled out from High Bay 2 in March 1969, the yellow support pillars in the middle parking spot were not there. They had been removed. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-10-2023 12:39 PM
It would seem that LUT was an acronym for Launcher-Umbilical Tower, and not Launch Umbilical Tower. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-14-2023 12:01 PM
Here is a photo of the AS-500F test vehicle returning to the VAB on October 14, 1966. The two other Mobile Launchers can be seen in the background. The support pillars in the east parking spot can be seen at right. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-08-2024 07:57 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
Apparently, the launch umbilical towers had commissioning plaques.
The location of the plaque appears to have been just inside the Egress Door of the Mobile Launcher platform. That sure looks like a Launcher-Umbilical Tower plaque on the wall at 01:19 into this "Apollo 11 Emergency Egress Walk Through" film. That must be the LUT-1 plaque in the film. |
NavyPilot
Member Posts: 105
From: USA
Registered: Nov 2015
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posted 01-09-2024 09:44 AM
Excellent work on the LUT acronym and plaque location. Good eye for detail.Regarding ML numbering, where are the series (1,2,3) numbers located? I only see the quadrant numbers (both 2, facing camera) in the rollout shot. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-09-2024 10:27 AM
There are two parked Mobile Launchers in the first photo. I see a "2" for ML-2 on the left one, and a "3" for ML-3 on the right one. Both those ML numbers seen in the photo are on Side 1 of the ML platforms. The resolution is not good enough to see the much smaller "Side 1" number located under the ML number. In the black and white rollback photo, you are seeing ML-1 Side 4. |
NavyPilot
Member Posts: 105
From: USA
Registered: Nov 2015
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posted 01-10-2024 08:50 AM
Thanks. Do you know of any way to identify the CT visually? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-10-2024 09:48 AM
The Apollo-era crawler-transporters look virtually identical to me, unless you can see a cab number (CT-1 or CT-2) in a photo. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-10-2024 10:32 AM
The LUT-1 hammerhead crane and a few levels of LUT-1 were saved and are on display at the Kennedy Space Center. Maybe the Launcher-Umbilical Tower Number 1 plaque is there also? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-14-2024 01:31 PM
The word "South" was painted on ML-1 Side 1 when Apollo 11 rolled out to the pad. It was not there when Apollo 8 rolled out to the pad. It was not on ML-2 or ML-3, from what I have seen. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3910
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-14-2024 06:34 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
...the yellow support pillars in the middle parking spot were not there.
Those yellow support pillars may have been removed even earlier. I don't see them in a 1967 Apollo 4 rollout photo. |
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