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  KSC Visitor Complex: Pad 39A OAA, white room

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Author Topic:   KSC Visitor Complex: Pad 39A OAA, white room
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-11-2015 06:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
collectSPACE
Historic space shuttle access arm reaches out to public on temporary display

A large piece of a space shuttle launch pad has landed on temporary display, where the public visiting NASA's Florida spaceport may catch sight of it.

The orbiter access arm and "white room" that for 30 years served as the astronauts' walkway into the space shuttles poised on Launch Pad 39A was recently moved outside of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The public may have the chance to see the gantry arm while on bus tours departing from the center's visitor complex, even getting up-close on one of the paths.

The iconic 65-foot-long (20-meter) arm and its integrated environmentally-controlled room was used by 82 astronaut crews to cross from the 147-foot (45-m) level of the pad's fixed service structure, or tower, to the shuttle that would take them to orbit. The arm and white room was first used for STS-1, the maiden flight of the space shuttle program, in 1981, and was retired with the launch of the final shuttle mission, STS-135, in 2011.

SpaceAngel
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From: Maryland
Registered: May 2010

posted 05-11-2015 07:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAngel   Click Here to Email SpaceAngel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What's the plan for the OAA?

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-11-2015 08:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
As the article notes, its final display is not yet decided. For now, the focus is on arranging for a new indoor storage location.

mgspacecadet
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Registered: Apr 2012

posted 06-02-2015 05:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mgspacecadet   Click Here to Email mgspacecadet     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To the best of my knowledge and who I have talked to, the LC39A OAA is going to the KSC Visitor Complex, inside, to be associated with the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit; timeframe unknown.

The fact that the OAA stayed in VAB HB1 for approximately two years and is now where it is, is a very good indication it will remain at the Kennedy Space Center. And as mentioned, the OAA is in a neat place now as more people can see it.

Being a Swing Arm Engineer in the 1980s, we (at least Engineering, Operations and others at KSC) typically used the acronyms OAA for the Orbiter Access Arm and GVA for the GOX Vent Arm in meetings, logs and such. It was not unusual to hear "beanie cap" used by some to describe the GOX Vent Arm in meetings and such, but it was not one of my favorite terms.

To the best of my knowledge there is one more Swing Arm remaining at LC39A, the Intertank Access Arm, used for access to the ET Intertank and to connect the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) once the vehicle arrived at the pad. The Intertank Access Arm never received as much attention as the other two arms. The Intertank Access Arm was retracted prior to Launch Countdown and was only controlled locally whereas the OAA and GVA were both operated in the Launch Countdown and could be controlled both remotely and locally. Also of note, all the Arms operated at different hydraulic pressures. The Intertank Access Arm operated at 1500 psi, the GVA at 2200 psi and the OAA at 2700 psi.

To the best of my knowledge, for the entire Space Shuttle Program, the Swing Arms never held a "Count," until the last launch, STS-135, when the Launch Countdown was briefly held at T-31 sec because of an issue verifying the GVA was fully retracted; which it was, but the instrumentation/logic used by the Ground Launch Sequencer, was not met.

p51
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From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 06-02-2015 12:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Makes sense to display it in the Atlantis building at the KSC visitor center, there's plenty of room for it there.

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