How strong is VAB roof?

What are prospects of serious damage to the VAB roof?

NASA issued this on 5Jan2004:

NASA Presolicitation Notice: Construct Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) Roof
Refurbishment

See
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=11452

It's a 636 calender day job, so I guess the Code Z people (or whatever
they're called now) weren't too concerned about the structure failing in the
near future.

However, I don't detect any sense of urgency in this solicitation
possible hurricane damage, even in light of the devastation of recent storms
like Hurricane Andrew.

Later
Ray Schmitt


"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
What are prospects of serious damage to the VAB roof?

It's lasted almost 40 years




The Durango 95 purred away real horrorshow. A nice warm vibratey feeling all
through your guttiwuts.

"JStONGE123" wrote in message
...
It's lasted almost 40 years

That wasn't good enough for the buran hanger a few years ago -- it too
had lasted almost 40 years, and collapsed.

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...

"JStONGE123" wrote in message
...
It's lasted almost 40 years

That wasn't good enough for the buran hanger a few years ago -- it too
had lasted almost 40 years, and collapsed.

Yeah, but 40 years without major maintenance, probably. VAB's a different
story.


--
Alan Erskine
We can get people to the Moon in five years,
not the fifteen GWB proposes.
Give NASA a real challenge

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...

"JStONGE123" wrote in message
...
It's lasted almost 40 years

That wasn't good enough for the buran hanger a few years ago -- it too
had lasted almost 40 years, and collapsed.

Yeah, but 40 years without major maintenance, probably. VAB's a different
story.


--
Alan Erskine
We can get people to the Moon in five years,
not the fifteen GWB proposes.
Give NASA a real challenge



A good point. Actually, NASA has not been able to invest in major facility
maintenance since the late 1970s/early 1980s because of tight budgets (high
shuttle operation costs, ISS overruns/delays, major disasters like
Challenger and Columbia).. Maintenance usually gets deferred and facilities
deteriorate.

I ran into this problem in 1995-96 before I retired from McDonnell Douglas.
I was working with NASA-Ames on TPS development for the X-33. We needed the
Ames 60 megawatt arcjet wind tunnel for this work. That facility was
running, but was sorely in need of maintenance. We could only get to about
35 megawatts because the stresses were too much for the arcjet and power
supply. We needed the full 60 megawatts for this work. The old parts were
failing right and left. The Ames folks worked their butts off (7/70
schedule) trying to fix the damn thing, but the arcjet and its power supply
really needed to be rebuilt.

The VAB is no exception. Major maintenance has been deferred on that
facility for a long time.

Later
Ray Schmitt

Ray Schmitt wrote:
....
The VAB is no exception. Major maintenance has been deferred on that
facility for a long time.

I saw a picture of the roof sometime earlier this year that showed a lot
of rusting things up there. It looked generally shabby. The structural
roof slab is under all the deteriorating things in the photo but it must
have some issues of its own I would think. Come to think of it, what
_is_ the structure of the underlying "roof slab"? Did they pour
concrete over a frame, or is it just a steel framework? Too bad the
recent contract solicitation doesn't have more details.

I wish I could find that photo. Google Images doesn't help.

--
bp
Proud Member of the Human O-Ring Society Since 2003

That wasn't good enough for the buran hanger a few years ago -- it too
had lasted almost 40 years, and collapsed.





That's cheapass Russian construction. Someone farts and a two story comes
down.




The Durango 95 purred away real horrorshow. A nice warm vibratey feeling all
through your guttiwuts.

I saw a picture of the roof sometime earlier this year that showed a lot
of rusting things up there.

Salt air will do that.




The Durango 95 purred away real horrorshow. A nice warm vibratey feeling all
through your guttiwuts.

I saw a picture of the roof sometime earlier this year that showed a lot
of rusting things up there.

Salt air will do that.

didnt a cieling colapse at KSC a year or so ago?
HAVE A GREAT DAY!