Space shuttle for space tourism and first stage of a TSTO.

Peter Stickney wrote:
Depending on the conditions at the airfield that they are doing the
loading/unloading, they may need to a bunch of prep work before they can
even erect the mate/denate frames, such as pouring mounting pads for the
legs - with that leg loading, you aren't going to be just setting the thing
up on the ground, or on bare pavement.

I don't know if there are any legs involved; it looks like it just hangs
between the two heavy cranes.
Although the orbiter is fairly large, it isn't terrificly heavy, so
ground pressure per square inch on the two crane's wheels (or treads)
probably isn't that great.
Unfortunately, all the side photos show the port side, so you can't get
a good look at the larger of the two cranes.

Pat

Peter Stickney wrote:
What's NASA got in mind for the carrier 747's after the Shuttle is
retired? They must have quite a few years on them by now.

Years, yes. Flight hours, no.
Although since both were retired airliners (Ex-American Airlines, IIRC),

At least one was from American Airlines, as you could still vaguely see
the airline's name on its fuselage side when it was first put into
service for the drop tests.

Pat

Peter Stickney wrote:

It didn't just have the shiny spots where the "American Airlines" name was
scrubbed off, but they kept the red/white/blue cheat line along the
windows.

Hey, they wanted to do it on the cheap.
This thing would have been really something to see:
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=4190
Real imagination on the wing and horizontal tail design there guys;
let's see just how slow we can make it, shall we? ;-)

Pat

Peter Stickney wrote:

Of course, White Sands lucks out in that they have the cranes available.
Most Museum sites will. But not all Alternate Landing sites do.

I would have thought that they would check for the availibility of
cranes within a day or two as a prequsite for making a airport a
alternate landing site.

And the cranes are too large to fly in - They've then got to build a
temporary structure to handle the lifting.


There seems to be some sort of temporary wind-break behind the Shuttle
in some of those White Sands photos; it looks like they are shielding
the transport boat tail from the wind due to its low weight.


Unfortunately, all the side photos show the port side, so you can't get
a good look at the larger of the two cranes.

Can't say for sure, but it looks like a Manitowoc.

It's very big, whatever it is.
I assume it takes most of the weight of the lift as it's down toward the
engine end and fairly close to the CG.
Like you said, trying to get everything aligned right for attaching it
on a windy day must have been very tricky.

Pat

Peter Stickney wrote:

You still need hard level platforms for the cranes to lift from.
Hoisting is a delicate tricky business, especially when doing a dual lift.
(Hate to try that in any sort of a wind.)

When I was in Newport News, I used to get very nervous - the simulated
missiles they used in the yards exceeded the limit for one crane and
were right at the limits for two. And they'd move 'em in any weather.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
Peter Stickney wrote:

You still need hard level platforms for the cranes to lift from.
Hoisting is a delicate tricky business, especially when doing a dual lift.
(Hate to try that in any sort of a wind.)

When I was in Newport News, I used to get very nervous - the simulated
missiles they used in the yards exceeded the limit for one crane and
were right at the limits for two. And they'd move 'em in any weather.

When developing our curriculum for cave rescue, the subject of safety
factors came up. Some people seem to want the maximum possible safety
factor, no number is too big. They have a hard time really understanding
that a 1.0001 safety factor is adequate, assuming you absolutely know all
the factors involved. Obviously when we're rigging out in the middle of a
cave we can't account for all those factors so we use a number that's a bit
higher. :-)

I'll bet the crane operators had enough experience to get close to that
mythical 1:1 number. But yeah, I'd be nervous. :-)


--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.