Color of launch towers

hello, world\n

is there a reason the launch towers have the colors they have--Apollo: red,
Shuttle: gray--other than "that was the cheapest available coating that met the specs
at the time"?

Regards,

Jens
--
Jens Schweikhardt http://www.schweikhardt.net/
SIGSIG -- signature too long (core dumped)

On 6/5/2011 12:10 PM, Jens Schweikhardt wrote:
hello, world\n

is there a reason the launch towers have the colors they have--Apollo: red,
Shuttle: gray--other than "that was the cheapest available coating that met the specs
at the time"?

I'm pretty sure the Apollo one was red because it was painted in red
lead paint for salt corrosion resistance, like the bottom of a ship's hull.

Pat

On Jun 5, 4:10*pm, Jens Schweikhardt wrote:
hello, world\n

is there a reason the launch towers have the colors they have--Apollo: red,
Shuttle: gray--other than "that was the cheapest available coating that met the specs
at the time"?



No, they used the latest and best available anti corrosion paint. The
red type was superseded by the gray.

Obviously the paint is anti-corrosive. I've seen pictures of some earlier
launch structures that were painted a square pattern of red and white - like
the shields at the ends of runways. I'm assuming in the early days this was
to prevent low flying aircraft from hitting the new towers added to the
landscape. So maybe there's a point where visibility is an issue and with
better radars etc anti-corrosive is the only consideration. Driving past the
motor pool scrap area at the Cape, you really get an appreciation of just
how bad things can rot in the salt environment.

Val
Kraut

On 6/6/2011 8:52 AM, Val Kraut wrote:
Obviously the paint is anti-corrosive. I've seen pictures of some earlier
launch structures that were painted a square pattern of red and white - like
the shields at the ends of runways.

Here's an Atlas ICBM in a red and white one:
http://www.strategic-air-command.com...s/Atlas44D.jpg
Here's another Atlas in a all red one:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ull_ba ck.jpg
Both photos were taken at the Cape, but the second one seems to be more
like the red lead paint color.

Pat