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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 629 (November 12, 2016)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 11-11-2016 07:34 AM
   
 A view of the damage to the Mobile Launch Platform at Pad 39A after the launch of STS-2 on November 12, 1981. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 11-11-2016 08:52 AM
Wow! Never seen this before. Did the water suppression system eliminate the damage on subsequent launches? |
Headshot
Member Posts: 864
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-12-2016 08:48 AM
What was the nature of the damage from STS-1's launch that made NASA install the water/sound supression system for STS-2? Do you have any picture Ed? Maybe next week? |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 11-12-2016 01:16 PM
Not sure about the pad, but I seem recall the water suppression system was installed to dampen the shock wave that bounced back up and damaged some of the structure in the orbiter aft compartment on STS-1 - when the SRBs ignited. |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 11-12-2016 02:31 PM
After the STS-1 launch it was determined that the pressure pulse of the SRB ignition was not carried away by deflector tunnels in the launch pad. In this test at Marshall Space Flight Center the SRBs are simulated using Tomahawk sounding rockets. 
A new overpreasure modification system was installed on the mobile launcher before STS-2. In a few seconds the system dumped thousands of gallons of water into the SRB exhaust holes in the MLP to stop the pressure wave from jarring the orbiter. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 11-13-2016 01:48 AM
It's all explained in the book "Into the Black" by Rowland White. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 11-14-2016 04:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by heng44:
A new overpreasure modification system was installed on the mobile launcher before STS-2.
Comparing the two photos before and after launch, it seems that the dumping of water worked preventing damage to the orbiter but not to the launch pad? |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-14-2016 10:39 AM
Which orbiter was used at Marshall for those tests? Doesn't look like Pathfinder. Was it a model, and if so, where is it now? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-14-2016 11:50 AM
That was the 6.4 percent scale model of the space shuttle. Last I saw it, it was still at Marshall Space Flight Center, sitting at the base of the test stand where it was last used. |
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