posted 04-20-2014 10:59 AM               

1. During testing of the Saturn 500F facility checkout vehicle they had chilled down the transfer pump and started it up. The large flex hose (12” or so) between the tank and the transfer line took the first big slug of liquid and split with personnel standing right next to it. They shut down the pump and fled the area.

   There was no valve between the storage tank and the broken flex hose so all anyone could do was watch 800 thousand gallons of LO2 drain onto the pad surface and across the asphalt perimeter road. The perimeter road was frozen for weeks. Amazing nothing caught on fire from that episode. Immediately after steps were taken to ensure there was the means of shutting down the oxygen flow.

2. Water for fire suppression was usually supplied to the launch pad through a 36 inch pipe. At some point it was decided to reduce this to 12 inches by adding a reducer. When the test started the pressure was such that a 40 foot length of pipe was blown into the air and a 36 inch column of water was sent hundreds of feet skywards.

3. Another incident involving water occurred during Apollo. A technician started to unbolt a flange not realising that the system was pressurised. The last few bolts sheared under the pressure and the flange hit him in the chest with fatal consequences.

4. In March 1981 two workers were cleared to enter the aft fuselage of the shuttle before the inerting nitrogen gas had been removed, again with fatal consequences.

5. A major fire that almost destroyed the shuttle when a fuel valve failed to close following an engine abort.

posted 04-20-2014 01:28 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by moorouge:
A major fire that almost destroyed the shuttle when a fuel valve failed to close following an engine abort.

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