1
00:00:00,060 --> 00:00:04,440
We're at one of the largest facilities
built by NASA, as a matter of fact, we're

2
00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:09,280
in the trenches. No, no, the trench, the flame trench.

3
00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:18,080
I'm Yves Lamont and we're checked in at
the Kennedy Space Center, our multi-user

4
00:00:18,090 --> 00:00:22,289
spaceport. We have our boarding pass to
the launchpad and with me today is

5
00:00:22,289 --> 00:00:26,640
Regina Spellman. Hi Regina. Hi, how're you doing today? Regina Spellman is the Launchpad Project

6
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,670
Manager and she's gonna tell us a little
bit more about the launchpad.

7
00:00:29,670 --> 00:00:33,750
Yeah, well today you're here at Launch
Complex 39b. Reason it's B is that we

8
00:00:33,750 --> 00:00:38,160
have two pads actually at Kennedy Space
Center, we have 39A and 39B. These were

9
00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:42,059
both built back in the 60s for the
Saturn program. They're just over 50

10
00:00:42,059 --> 00:00:45,120
years old. Pad A was completed first and
that was really the workhorse during the

11
00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,660
Saturn program and then B was built two
years afterwards. We did see the launch

12
00:00:48,660 --> 00:00:53,039
of Apollo 10 out here. A lot of people
are familiar with the Apollo 11 from the

13
00:00:53,039 --> 00:00:57,360
movies, but Apollo 10 was the dry run for
Apollo 11 and that launched from right

14
00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:01,020
here where we're standing. After the
Apollo program, Saturn program we went

15
00:01:01,020 --> 00:01:05,309
into the Space Shuttle program and we
modified the pad to support the Space

16
00:01:05,309 --> 00:01:08,729
Shuttle. This pad saw 53 Space Shuttle launches.

17
00:01:08,729 --> 00:01:13,470
Wow. On the last of them was STS-116, a
beautiful night launch from that was the

18
00:01:13,470 --> 00:01:18,119
last one from here. So where exactly on
the pad our we? Right now, where you're

19
00:01:18,119 --> 00:01:21,630
standing is in the flame trench area, or on
the apron of the flame trench. If you

20
00:01:21,630 --> 00:01:25,229
look back behind us in the flame
deflector, flame trench area, the brick

21
00:01:25,229 --> 00:01:29,490
walls are the trench. The rocket actually
sits above this pad surface on the

22
00:01:29,490 --> 00:01:33,180
Mobile Launcher. So all the exhaust from
the rocket goes through an opening in

23
00:01:33,180 --> 00:01:36,299
the Mobile Launcher down onto the
deflector, what looks like the darker

24
00:01:36,299 --> 00:01:41,850
wall behind us, that's actually a metal
deflector, an upside down V shape, and all

25
00:01:41,850 --> 00:01:45,780
that exhaust comes down and impinges on
that deflector and gets redirected out

26
00:01:45,780 --> 00:01:49,259
into the ocean, basically down this
pathway that we're standing on. And the

27
00:01:49,259 --> 00:01:53,939
reason we have to do that is because the
SLS will experience 9 million pounds of

28
00:01:53,939 --> 00:01:57,659
thrust. That exhaust will get, it's not
like your car exhaust, that exhaust will

29
00:01:57,659 --> 00:02:03,090
get up to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit and
that is hot even for Florida. Now I see

30
00:02:03,090 --> 00:02:07,390
three tall towers with those long poles
on top of them.

31
00:02:07,390 --> 00:02:11,830
What exactly are those? Yeah, so Florida is
very active lightning, it's known as the

32
00:02:11,830 --> 00:02:14,950
lightning capital of the world, so we
have erected these lightning towers.

33
00:02:14,950 --> 00:02:18,400
These towers are so tall because any
vehicle that can leave the Vehicle

34
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,030
Assembly Building could be protected by
these lightning protection towers. The

35
00:02:22,030 --> 00:02:26,050
towers are 600 feet tall and they
support a catenary system of wires that

36
00:02:26,050 --> 00:02:30,670
actually provide that protection over
the pad surface. So is this where the

37
00:02:30,670 --> 00:02:34,720
Mobile Launcher comes on to the pad? It
is. The Crawler brings the Mobile

38
00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,750
Launcher from the Vehicle Assembly
Building, down the crawlerway and it

39
00:02:37,750 --> 00:02:41,080
actually arrives at the pad and comes up
the hill to get on top of the pad

40
00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,550
surface. The crawler brings the Mobile
Launcher over the flame trench and you

41
00:02:45,550 --> 00:02:48,459
can see there's a crawler track here and
there's one on the other side. It

42
00:02:48,459 --> 00:02:52,540
straddles the flame trench. When the
crawler sits the Mobile Launcher down it

43
00:02:52,540 --> 00:02:55,870
gets out of the way and the pad takes it
from there. There's a tower behind us.

44
00:02:55,870 --> 00:03:00,070
This is a 400,000 gallon water tower.
That's about the same size as 27

45
00:03:00,070 --> 00:03:03,370
average-sized swimming pools, if
you can imagine. And all that water gets

46
00:03:03,370 --> 00:03:07,360
dumped out in less than 25 seconds. And
the purpose of that water is to keep all

47
00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:11,739
of this structure cool, but more
importantly, it also prevents the sound

48
00:03:11,739 --> 00:03:16,000
wave from the vehicle. If you think of
nine million pounds of thrust, how loud

49
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,510
that must be, and exhausting from the
vehicle that sound wave could bounce

50
00:03:19,510 --> 00:03:24,220
back off of the structural steel of the
Mobile Launcher and reflect back onto

51
00:03:24,220 --> 00:03:28,690
the launch vehicle and cause damage. But
the water that's going into the exhaust

52
00:03:28,690 --> 00:03:33,820
hole helps to dampen that. Wow,
so essentially there really is no safe

53
00:03:33,820 --> 00:03:38,709
place on the pad right before launch. Not
at all, you need to be several miles away.

54
00:03:38,709 --> 00:03:42,250
Our launch control system is about four
miles from here and that's about is

55
00:03:42,250 --> 00:03:46,030
where you want to be on launch day, as
close as you want to get. So how do the

56
00:03:46,030 --> 00:03:50,290
astronauts get up to the rocket when
they get to the pad?  So the Astro Van

57
00:03:50,290 --> 00:03:54,579
actually brings the astronauts to the
pad and they will leave the Astro Van

58
00:03:54,579 --> 00:03:59,110
and get on to these elevators. These
elevators take them up to the Mobile

59
00:03:59,110 --> 00:04:02,590
Launcher and then there's another
elevator that takes them all the way up

60
00:04:02,590 --> 00:04:07,280
to the crew access arm and they cross
the crew access arm and enter into the Orion capsule.

61
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,850
Well, thank you Regina for coming out and
sharing all this knowledge with us about

62
00:04:10,850 --> 00:04:13,100
the pad.
I'm Yves LaMotte from the Kennedy Space