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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 99 (September 23, 2006)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-23-2006 03:30 AM
   
 This is a test of the sound suppression water system at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on July 18, 1979. The test was in support of STS-1, but the Shuttle on the pad is not Columbia. It is Enterprise, which was used as a facilities verification vehicle during the summer of 1979. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 09-23-2006 04:25 AM
How stange. I thought the sound suppression system was not used on STS-1 (hence the loss of tiles, for example on the OMS pods) but introduced on STS-2 which eliminated the problems encountered on STS-1? Are you sure the photo dates back to July 1979? Or am I missing something? |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-23-2006 05:47 AM
The date on the photo is okay. There was a sound suppression water system in place for STS-1, but it was modified before STS-2 to prevent the pressure spike that was noticed during the first launch. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 09-23-2006 09:22 AM
I guess the pressure spike was due to the SRB igniting? Otherwise it would have been noticed during Columbia's Flight Readiness Firing or other SSME test that might have occurred? |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-23-2006 09:35 AM
That is correct. The SRBs were the cause of the pressure spike. The new sound suppression measures consisted, among other things, of extra bags of water under the SRB exhaust holes in the mobile launcher platform. |
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