RA-5C wrote in :

What species of bird was struck at lift-off? Most of what I saw at the
Cape was rather large vultures or gulls?

It looked to be a dark-colored bird, probably a vulture rather than a gull.
Obviously the birds have gotten complacent during two and a half years of
no launches, and developed a flawed safety culture. It is time to put all
KSC birds through mandatory safety training. :-)

Another question that I have
concerns the woodpecker problem/solution of the main fuel tank some
years back. How did they solve that problem?

Owl decoys and noisemakers on the pad, plus a "bird lady" with a squirt gun
to shoo birds away. Of course, that only works prior to launch, since the
bird lady has to vacate the pad with the rest of the workers.


--
JRF

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