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shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 29th 06, 10:45 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Rich
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Default 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  
Old August 29th 06, 11:01 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Brian Thorn
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Default 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  
Old August 29th 06, 11:07 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
John Doe
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Default 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  
Old August 29th 06, 11:34 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
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Default 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.


  #5  
Old August 30th 06, 12:46 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Rich
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Default shuttle, tank and boosters on its crawler

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?



wrote:
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.


  #6  
Old August 30th 06, 12:49 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Jorge R. Frank
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Default 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.


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check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.
  #7  
Old August 30th 06, 04:25 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
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Default 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  
Old August 30th 06, 04:37 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
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Default 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

 




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