Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Hawaii as a launching site
Message-ID: <1989Dec20.045210.1788@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <IA80024.89352200552@MAINE.BITNET> <1989Dec19.172843.10529@utzoo.uucp> <2274@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 89 04:52:10 GMT

In article <2274@accuvax.nwu.edu> phil@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (William LeFebvre) writes:
>Correct me if I'm wrong.....aren't the SRB segments sent to some place
>other than KSC for refurbishing and repacking?  And aren't they sent
>by rail?  I seem to recall that one of the constraints on the length
>of the segment (and one of the arguments in favor of segmented SRBs)
>was the requirement that they be carriable via freight train.

That's right.  They go to Morton Thiokol (accursed be their name) in Utah
for refurbishing.  NASA has its own fleet of special railcars for the job.

>Such a processing facility would have to be built on the same island
>as the launch facility to make Hawaii work...

It would probably be possible to move them by ship, possibly even by air.
But it does run the price up.  For that matter, moving them by rail runs
the price up -- it would make a lot more sense to have most of the KSC-
related facilities located near KSC, but the combination of existing
plants and pork-barrel politics works against that.
-- 
1755 EST, Dec 14, 1972:  human |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
exploration of space terminates| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
