Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 165 (December 29)
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heng44 Member Posts: 3387 From: Netherlands Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 12-29-2007 06:35 AM
To be a Boeing technician at Cape Kennedy in the 1970s meant you’d better not be afraid of heights. I have no idea what these two men were doing atop the Skylab 1 stack on Launch Complex 39 in May of 1973, nor do I know how they got there. There was no swing arm this high up the launch tower, only a v-shaped bar (out of frame at bottom right) that looks too narrow to walk on. Ed Hengeveld |
Gilbert Member Posts: 1328 From: Carrollton, GA USA Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 12-29-2007 07:53 AM
Wow. I wonder who those guys are. |
Michael Davis Member Posts: 528 From: Houston, Texas Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 12-29-2007 08:40 AM
Ed,Do you have another photo to show some perspective on this shot? I'm struggling because the shroud they are working on appears flattened, not the nice circular shape I would expect from the one on Skylab 1. It's probably just an optical effect. |
heng44 Member Posts: 3387 From: Netherlands Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 12-29-2007 10:15 AM
Here is a view from a similar angle. I posted it mirrored to get the same perspective. Ed |
gliderpilotuk Member Posts: 3398 From: London, UK Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 12-29-2007 10:25 AM
NASA photo 108-KSC-73P-256 seems to show the "A" frame at the top of the tower which admittedly is very narrow and with no apparent floor to it. The platform these guys are on extends via hydraulic rams to bring them closer to the nosecone. Not a job I'd fancy....Paul Ed beat me to it!!! |
nasamad Member Posts: 2121 From: Essex, UK Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 12-29-2007 05:36 PM
What is right up the top there what they could be working on? I don't imagine there was a Q-ball there for an unmanned flight, I thought they were only on manned LES.Adam |
Rolf Member Posts: 21 From: Netherlands Registered: May 2007
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posted 12-30-2007 11:35 AM
Hi Ed,Frightening picture! I am glad having an office job. |
divemaster Member Posts: 1376 From: ridgefield, ct Registered: May 2002
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posted 12-30-2007 02:28 PM
And a viewpoint that's no longer possible, either. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-30-2007 04:47 PM
quote: Originally posted by divemaster: And a viewpoint that's no longer possible, either.
At least not for the moment, but an even higher vantage point is currently under construction at Pad 39B: three 594-foot-tall steel and fiberglass towers that will serve as a lightening protection system. |
Atlantis Member Posts: 111 From: Cullman, AL Registered: Dec 2007
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posted 12-31-2007 01:31 PM
That takes some serious cajones to work on something like that. |