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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
What holds them in place during the crawl to the pad? Could see no
structure holding them. Anyone have pics of the support structures? Thanks, Rich |
#2
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
On 29 Aug 2006 14:45:28 -0700, "Rich" wrote:
What holds them in place during the crawl to the pad? Could see no structure holding them. Anyone have pics of the support structures? The whole she-bang is supported by the four bolts at the bottom of each Solid Rocket Booster. The Tank is suspended between the SRBs, the Orbiter hangs off the Tank. The two Tail Service Masts astride the Orbiter are only electrical/data/fluid connections and the like. Brian |
#3
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
Rich wrote:
What holds them in place during the crawl to the pad? Could see no structure holding them. Actually, the shuttle doesn't crawl to the pad. The pad crawls to the launch site with the shuttle attached to the pad. And the crawler deposits the pad onto the launch site and then crawls out from under the pad. The SRBs are bolted to the pad. They hold the tank which holds the orbiter. The tombstone structures you see don't actually hold the shuttle, they just provide umbilicals. At launch time, explosive bolts free the SRBs from the launch pad. |
#4
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
ACTUALLY.. the shuttle is on top of the MOBILE LAUNCH PLATFORM (MLP),
which is lifted by the crawler and moved to the Pad.. the launch pads don't move - Pad A or B..they're where they are.. the mobile launcher is taken out there w/the vehicle on top by the crawler. There's no supports - there are 4 bolts at the bottom of each SRB that anchor the whole stack. Each SRB is attached to the ET by 4 bolts (3 at the bottom, 1 at the top, which contain pyrotechnic explosives for the srb sep.) and the orbiter is attached to the ET by one bolt - the upper connection is that bolt, the lower connections are the feed lines - one for liquid oxygen, the other for liquid hydrogen... yes, it's an amazing machine in so many ways! John Doe wrote: Rich wrote: What holds them in place during the crawl to the pad? Could see no structure holding them. Actually, the shuttle doesn't crawl to the pad. The pad crawls to the launch site with the shuttle attached to the pad. And the crawler deposits the pad onto the launch site and then crawls out from under the pad. The SRBs are bolted to the pad. They hold the tank which holds the orbiter. The tombstone structures you see don't actually hold the shuttle, they just provide umbilicals. At launch time, explosive bolts free the SRBs from the launch pad. |
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
"Rich" wrote in
oups.com: Are you saying that the whole weight of the orbiter, ET and SRBs rest on the two SRB nozzles that the MLP is supporting? Yes. Those are some honking big bolts holding the SRBs onto the MLP. -- JRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. |
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
Rich wrote:
Agree that it's an amazing machine. Are you saying that the whole weight of the orbiter, ET and SRBs rest on the two SRB nozzles that the MLP is supporting? Yup. [Technically not the nozzles themselves, but rather the hard points on the skirt right next to the nozzles.] Here's a rare shot of the boosters alone on the MLP: http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/i...ay_031118.html The ET and orbiter just hang in the middle. That the SRBs carry the entire weight shouldn't be too surprising. At lift-off they are providing the overwhelming majority of the thrust (the main engines don't throttle up until later). Which means that the shuttle is basically standing on the SRBs for the first minute of flight. Therefore it's no structural problem at all for the stack to be supported by nothing but the SRBs when it is at rest. |
#8
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
"Rich" wrote in Are you saying that the whole weight of the orbiter, ET and SRBs rest on the two SRB nozzles that the MLP is supporting? Yes. Those are some honking big bolts holding the SRBs onto the MLP. Excuse me for the dumb question, but how does the SRB exhaust escape the boosters after ignition and before leaving the platform (I realize this is just a couple tenths of a second) if they are resting on the nozzles? Lee Jay |
#9
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
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#10
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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler
"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message ... wrote in news:1156909059.068078.298450 @e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com: Jorge R. Frank wrote: "Rich" wrote in Are you saying that the whole weight of the orbiter, ET and SRBs rest on the two SRB nozzles that the MLP is supporting? Yes. Those are some honking big bolts holding the SRBs onto the MLP. Excuse me for the dumb question, but how does the SRB exhaust escape the boosters after ignition and before leaving the platform (I realize this is just a couple tenths of a second) if they are resting on the nozzles? Sorry, I misread Rich's response. And to answer the other question, there are holes in the MLP to permit the exhaust to exit. The SRBs are bolted down by their aft skirts, not the nozzles themselves. -- JRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. |
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