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Author
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Topic: Launching shuttle: Kennedy vs. Vandenberg
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BMckay
Member Posts: 3219
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 04-16-2004 08:51 AM
   
Taking the cost, politics and jobs out of the equation. Would it be safer to launch the shuttle from Vandenberg then KSC? Would there be less corrison from the salty Florida air, better weather so that there are less delays? I am not up to date on Vandenberg but is there a runway long enough to support landings? |
Above The Clouds
New Member Posts:
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posted 04-16-2004 04:58 PM
I may be wrong but I think that Vandenberg is only suitable to launch the shuttle into a polar orbit. I think if you launched out over the pacific in to a non polar orbit you would suffer reduced performance due to going against the Earth's rotation. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 04-16-2004 09:28 PM
Vandenberg is there to launch polar satellites. To launch into a low inclination orbit you would either have to launch over the continental US, dropping boosters along the way, or go west against the earth's rotation and lose A LOT of performance.There is a landing strip there and was once a launch complex that was nearly complete to support shuttle before 51L. In fact the plan was for OV-103, Discovery, to become the "Blue Orbiter" and be used solely for polar Air Force launches from Vandenberg. Those plans dried up after 51L when the Air Force migrated away from shuttle. By the way, Vandenberg gets it's share of salt spray too. And the weather is often foggy or low ceiling, so probably not a lot better than KSC and its thunderstorms. |
edmk5000
Member Posts: 49
From: Homestead, FL USA
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 01-04-2010 02:10 PM
Did SLC-6 have its own Launch Control Center (LCC) or was launch control provided out of KSC? |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 01-05-2010 10:25 AM
Vandenberg has full launch support facilities on site, so launch control activities would have been controlled by them. Special preparation was needed for DoD flights in the form of data encryption. One firing room at KSC was set up for that, but Vandenberg has full facilities since almost all they do is launch DoD payloads.On orbit, control was done at Houston's Mission Control. The specific control room used was actually the one used for the Apollo lunar flights (normal shuttle flights used the room that supported Apollo Earth orbit flights). When it was re-equipped for shuttle, it was given a faraday cage to help trap any stray signal emmissions, to help prevent any passive electronic eavesdropping. When the last DoD flight flew, the room was converted back to its Apollo era appearance. As such, we can visit it today on the tours. |
kr4mula
Member Posts: 642
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 01-05-2010 11:45 AM
I was under the impression that the whole MCC wing of the building was inside the Faraday cage. Classified launch or not, you don't want any electromagnetic anomalies messing with the control center. If I remember correctly, I heard this from one of the old engineers during a tour. |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 01-05-2010 12:26 PM
Is that why Gene Kranz didn't do any tweets during Apollo 13?  |
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