[ad_1]
CAPE CANAVERAL – They supported some of the country's first meteorological and communications satellite launches, helped send probes to other planets and establish the GPS constellation now so entrenched in everyday life.
The two launch launches of Launch Complex 17 collapsed into a cloud of dust, driven by controlled explosions, while a hundred or so spectators watched at a short but safe distance.
Brig. General Wayne Monteith, Commander of 45 Space Wing, chaired a brief demolition ceremony that closed a historic chapter in Cape Town's history, while opening another that could see the private sector playing a leading role plan in exploration. Monteith joked before starting the charges just after 7 am "We are preparing to jump into the future.
With a warning siren, a 3-2-1 final countdown and cry of "fire in the hole!", Explosives exploded with noisy crash near the base of the mobile and stationary towers of nearly 200 feet high at pads 17A and 17B, sending them topple laterally in opposite directions.
Complex 17 was activated in 1957 for the launching of Thor's ballistic missiles, and was later known for its space missions by Delta rockets. In all, it hosted 325 launches.
More recently, the site has been hosted for over 20 years by United Launch Alliance's Delta II program, which has completed the last of its 110 missions since Cape Town nearly seven years ago. The $ 2 million demolition project was ongoing since then
Delta II rockets have launched several orbiters and landers to Mars, including the Spirit. Opportunity remains active on the red planet today.
Rockets have launched nearly 50 Global Positioning System satellites from Florida for the Air Force, helping to establish an accurate navigation and timing system that has transformed military operations. citizens rely on everything from road routes to financial transactions on a daily basis.
There is another launch of Delta II, scheduled for September 12 from California.
"I had such an increase The opportunity to participate in what we always felt was a really special team environment with the Delta II team," said Tim Dunn, NASA's launch director at the launch of the Kennedy Space Center's service program. "Now part of that is definitely going away, although we still have the team's memories at 17 years old. "
Launch Complex 17 and the adjacent Complex 18 are now occupied by Moon Express, a private company developing small lunar landers, which NASA can use to send scientific instruments to the lunar surface in the next few years. [19659002] Moon Express will test engines and landing gear on the site, but will launch them over rockets elsewhere on the capes or potentially in other locations.No launch or hazardous activity will be ef at Complex 17.
"Much of the recognition of the solar system – the knowledge we have, traveling – started here," said Bob Richards, CEO of Moon Express. a huge amount of history and legacy. Moon Express is now responsible for moving this forward in the future. "
" We are turning 17 and 18 from the legacy of the past into an opportunity for the future, "he added. We will launch our robotic explorers from Cape Canaveral and they will be built here at 17 and 18. In a year or two we will land on the moon. "
The 17-tower launch complex was the oldest intact at one of Cape Town's original launch sites, but others were stunned over the years to make room for new programs , including at Complexes 36, 40, 41 and 13 – the latter being now a landing zone for SpaceX rockets
or other environmental responsibilities, and do not perform well in warm weather and salted Cape once the launch programs stop paying to maintain them.
"They are the last of their breed, it's almost like an iconic form of architecture gone, d & # 39; a share, "said Roland Miller, author of" Abandoned in Place, "one of Cape Town's historic launch sites." On the other hand, the location of these towers being on a safe military base and so near the ocean, there is no practical way to preserve them historically. "[1965] 9002] "This is really the end of a phase of US space history, Launch Complex 17 was Cape Canaveral's southernmost launch site, offering viewers close-up views from Port Canaveral and the beach near Jetty Park. Dunn
"It was the closest rocket that the public could see," says Dunn.
The towers grew over the years to accommodate larger Delta rockets, but they looked a lot like these. At least the end of the 60s, from red to steel gray by the way.
Looking north from the public beaches of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach, a view that sweeps the shoreline up to the historic Cape Canaveral lighthouse, the towers were f "
" This is part of history, and that's what we do every day here on the (eastern) channel, "said Monteith
.
[ad_2]
Source link
