Space shuttle question.............. Why the huge tower?

[wacki]

Why the huge tower? Seems like overkill but there must be a good reason.

http://spaceinfo.jaxa.jp/note/kikan/g/kik9808_ksc_02.jpg

http://www.research.rutgers.edu/~chenfu/Tour/fla_trip/pics/ksc/pad.jpg

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/images/0023n061.jpg

http://images.spaceref.com/news/shuttle.pad.3.jpg


http://www.edugraphics.net/gu-universe/explore/posters/gu330-pl.jpg


Why the huge tower??



FYI: The Russians have their own shuttle. I thought that was kind of cool.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/buran/buran-pad.jpg

[brassnuts]

[ QUOTE ]
FYI: The Russians have their own shuttle. I thought that was kind of cool.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/buran/buran-pad.jpg



[/ QUOTE ]

Theirs is on the moon, sweet!

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
The Russians have their own shuttle. I thought that was kind of cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

It always struck me as evidence of an advantage in a particular area of technology that the Russians were, almost from the start, managing to land their returning spacecraft - while NASA kept splashing the pot in the oceans' waters.

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Russians have their own shuttle. I thought that was kind of cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

It always struck me as evidence of an advantage in a particular area of technology that the Russians were, almost from the start, managing to land their returning spacecraft - while NASA kept splashing the pot in the oceans' waters.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a common misconception.
The Russians lied a few times about how their craft were recovered.

I would rather not have to go searching the internet for this information, but I will if anyone seriously disputes my comments.

[drudman]

Why doesn't a kicker in football just balance the football and kick it? What does he need a holder or a tee for?

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriously though, I can only speculate that like football, rocket science is a game of inches, and it's pretty important to make sure the shuttle isn't deflected by wind at takeoff, or pointed a few seconds off course.

[fnord_too]

I don't know. My first thought is that it is a big lightning rod to reduce the risk of the shuttle being damaged if a storm passes through. Does it sit out there long before they launch?

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
Why the huge tower? Seems like overkill but there must be a good reason.


[/ QUOTE ]

Weight.

-Zeno

[wacki]

The tower isn't supporting the shuttle, the crawler is.

Also, the buran doesn't have huge towers.


http://cryowwwebber.gsfc.nasa.gov/SHOOT/SHOOT_GIFS/endeavour_s.gif

[Zeno]

Ah, Yes.

I have a suggestion, NASA is always good at questions for PR Reasons etc and probably has a website/page were this could be answered easily or have someone that could be e-mailed. The superstructure framework of the tower is very open and may just mainly support itself and provide a platform for various access/instrumentation/monitoring/operations to and for the entire shuttle, prelunch; plus hold the shuttle at the precise tilt or angle, in the verticle, as needed etc., which is very important.

-Zeno

[wacki]

ROTATING SERVICE STRUCTURE

http://www.stsliftoff.com/Documents/newsref/sts-lc39.html#sts-lc39-rss

The rotating service structure provides protected access to the orbiter for changeout and servicing of payloads at the pad. The structure is supported by a rotating bridge that pivots about a vertical axis on the west side of the pad's flame trench. The rotating service structure rotates through 120 degrees (one-third of a circle) on a radius of 160 feet. The hinge column rests on the pad surface and is braced to the fixed service structure. Support for the outer end of the bridge is provided by two eight-wheel, motor-driven trucks that move along circular twin rails installed flush with the pad surface. The track crosses the flame trench on a permanent bridge.

The rotating service structure is 102 feet long, 50 feet wide and 130 feet high. The elevation of the main structure above the surface of the pad ranges from 59 to 189 feet. The structure has orbiter access platforms at five levels to provide access to the payload bay while the orbiter is being serviced in the rotating service structure. Each platform has independent extendable planks that can be arranged to conform to a payload's configuration. With the exception of Spacelab and other horizontally handled payloads, satellites and experiments may be loaded into the orbiter from the rotating service structure under environmentally clean, or ''white room,'' conditions.

The payload changeout room is the enclosed, environmentally controlled portion of the rotating service structure that supports payload delivery at the launch pad and subsequent vertical installation in the orbiter payload bay.

The orbiter midbody umbilical unit provides access and services to the midfuselage portion of the orbiter on the pad. A sliding extension platform and a horizontally moving line-handling mechanism provide access to the midbody umbilical door on the left side of the orbiter and fluids to the orbiter's power reactant storage and distribution system and payloads. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for the fuel cells and gases, such as nitrogen and helium, are provided through the umbilical unit. The unit is 22 feet long, 13 feet wide and 20 feet high. The orbiter midbody umbilical unit extends from the rotating service structure at levels ranging from 158 to 176 feet above the surface of the pad.

The hypergolic umbilical system carries hypergolic fuel and oxidizer, helium, and nitrogen service lines from the fixed service structure to the vehicle. The system also provides for rapidly mating the lines to and demating them from the vehicle. Six umbilical handling units-manually operated and locally controlled-are structurally attached to the rotating service structure.

The umbilical handling units consist of three pairs located on the left and right sides of the-

[MortalNuts]

Hi wacki --

Not sure, but I'd guess the main thing is the fact that it allows stuff to be loaded into the upright cargo bay and serviced under nicely controlled conditions. Protection from the elements is probably also a minor bonus; so is the emergency crew exit system. (There are lines that run from the upper levels of the tower down to the ground. In an emergency that occurs on the launchpad and requires evacuation, the crew hops into some baskets and flies down these lines at, approximately, ludicrous speed.)


-mn