Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022
A closer look at the old LH2 tank converted to liquid CH4 ... #SpaceX, #BlueOrigin, and #ULA Vulcan are all going to methane because they want to achieve rapid reusability.
Most rockets today burn RP-1, a highly refined kerosene. It leaves a carbon residue, so engines have to be cleaned before they can be used again.
Methane burns much more cleanly, so they hope for a faster turnaround time.
A closer look at Pad 39A. The trained eye can spot technologies from three generations of American spaceflight -- Saturn V, Space Shuttle, and now Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy.
Starting with Apollo, all orbital American crewed spaceflights have launched from here or 39B. That will change when Boeing Starliner is operational next year at LC-41.
The back side of #SpaceX Pad 39A as seen from Phillips Parkway. (Most people call it the Cape Road.)
The new #Starship tower is to the left.
The liquid methane tank started life as the Apollo and Shuttle liquid hydrogen tank. Starship will use methane.
The crew access tower on the pad was originally the top half of an Apollo mobile platform. It was sawed off and transplanted for Shuttle. SpaceX modified it and added cladding for crew Dragon flights.
Looking to the south from the observation tower to #CCSFS Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ...
Launch Complex is home to United Launch Alliance #ULA with the Atlas V and, probably starting in 2024, their new Vulcan rocket. (Yes, named after the Star Trek planet in honor of Leonard Nimoy's passing.)
LC-41 will be used by Boeing to laucnh its Starliner crew capsule to the #ISS, starting sometime in 2024, hence the crew access tower.
Launch Pad 39B as seen from an observation tower about 1½ miles away.
This was the alternate pad for Apollo and Shuttle. It's now used for #NASA Project #Artemis. This is the OldSpace program, using a mobile launch platform on a crawler to bring the #SLS rocket to the pad.
#Artemis1 launched from here on November 16, 2022, sending an uncrewed #Orion spacecraft on a trip around the Moon #Artemis2, the first crewed mission, probably is early 2025.
Launch Pad 39A as seen from an observation tower about 1½ miles away.
Perhaps the most historic launch pad in the world (although the Russians would argue that Baikonur's Site 1 deserves that honor), it was originally built for Apollo, modified for Shuttle, and is now used by #SpaceX for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
The big tower in the middle is new; SpaceX intends to use it for #Starship launch and landing, once operational.
The Vehicle Assembly Building as seen from an observation tower about two miles away.
(Fun fact ... The original name was Vertical Assembly Building, but was changed in 1967 when someone pointed out that future assemblies might not be vertical. 😳 )
The Space Shuttles rolled out to the pad atop giant gray boxes called a Mobile Launch Platform. The three MLPs were originally built for Apollo and converted for Shuttle.
They're obsolete, so they're being scrapped. In the second photo, you see all that's left of one.
(The crawlers are still around. They're being used for Project #Artemis.)
The #KSCVC main entrance. I used to lecture in the Rocket Garden.
(Some day I might post an audio of one of those presentations. 😱 )
The new Kennedy Entry Experience at the #KSCVC entrance. Check earlier in this thread for the complete video.
The Space Life Sciences Laboratory was build by Space Florida in the mid-2000s. It serves #ISS customers. You can see the current tenants listed in the second photo.
You enter Exploration Park on Exploration Parkway. You turn left on NewSpace Way. "NewSpace" is the handy term those in the biz used to describe commercial space companies that don't rely on government subsidies to operate.
Exploration Park is across the street from #BlueOrigin. The idea was to create a commercial space complex on #KSC property but "outside the gate" so commercial tenants wouldn't require security badges. It's managed by Space Florida, a state agency.
Here come a series of photos from today's excursion around #KSC.
#BlueOrigin, owned by Jeff Bezos, is generally considered the main candidate to someday challenge Elon Musk's #SpaceX. This is their "Orbital Launch Site" on Space Commerce Way. Their NewGlenn rockets will be assembled in the big hangar.
The road is being expanded from one to two lanes each way with a center divider. (About time!)
#Politics Final official:
Jeffries (D) 212
Jordan (R) 199
Others 22
The House is in recess subject to recall of the chair.
#Politics We're missing three, but it looks like Jordan lost two more this time around.
With all the Middle East melodrama this week, here's a #StarTrek fun fact that connects to current events.
Jordan's King Abdullah, when he was a prince, appeared as an uncredited extra in the Voyager episode "Investigations." He has no lines; Harry Kim is talking to him in a corridor.
Abdullah is a huge Trek fan, so a cameo was arranged. He's now in the middle of the negotiations between the U.S., Israel, Jordan, and other players.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Abdullah_bin_al-Hussein
Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022