Fire Protection at the Kennedy Space Center
This article first appeared in the
May/June issue of NFPA Journal. Reprinted
with permission.
© 2004 NFPA Journal
 All
photographs provided by the Kennedy Space Center
Since the 1950’s, the Kennedy Space Center and the
adjoining U.S. Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral, have been home to America’s
space program. From the early
days of space flight to today’s Shuttle program, the Spaceport has sent
manned and unmanned rockets into space to orbit the planet, build the
International Space Station, to the moon, to the planets and into deep space.
Located on the Florida coast, the Kennedy Space Center
and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station cover an area of 200,000 acres.
Separating the complexes is the Banana River, which effectively divides
the complex into two operational areas. Along
with KSC and CCAFS is the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge that is home to 500
species of wildlife and 1000 species of plants and 25 miles of undeveloped
beachfront. The presence of this refuge in the middle of America’s
spaceport creates the need for a high level of environmental awareness and to
ensure that the operations of these facilities do not create an environmental
risk. At the same time, the
Refuge also presents a risk to the spaceport in the form of a wildland/urban
interface where a wild fire may spread into the spaceport.
In addition to being a spaceport, KSC is also where
submarines are loaded with Trident ballistic missiles and torpedoes.
The submarines then move off shore where they conduct training and
certification exercises. Docking privileges are also provided to a number of allies,
so at moments notice a submarine may be coming in, at any hour.
Space Gateway Support (SGS) is a private contractor
that delivers many of the support services for both the Kennedy Space Center
and Cape Canaveral Force Air Station. “We
provide fire protection to 2,500 facilities that house 25,000 people,” said
Bill Sample, the president of SGS. In
addition to providing fire and law enforcement for the complex, SGS also is
responsible for the infrastructure. “If
it is pumped or associated with energy, we are responsible for it,”
continued Sample. “We have a
propellant farm that pumps liquid and high-pressure gases such as oxygen,
nitrogen and helium. Other places
might pump more of an individual product, but no one pumps more of all
products than we do.”
SGS is responsible for transporting a number of other
items and products throughout the complex.
To accomplish this they have a railroad with three engines, buses,
cars, trucks, helicopters and airplanes.
Security at the complex also falls under SGS’s
sphere. “We are responsible for
astronaut protection and their families,” reported Sample.
“Our SWAT team finished sixth in an international competition of SWAT
teams, which we are very proud of.” Patrolling
the complex are police and security officers on both land and sea that have
full police powers.
Prior to being awarded the contract in 1998, KSC and
CCAS were treated as two separate facilities and had two contractors providing
many of the same services. This
resulted in duplication, and in an effort to reduce costs it was decided to
combine the two bases under one contract.
There were 17 different contractors that were combined under one
contract.
Physical Fire Protection Features
Many of the buildings at KSC were built during the
heyday of the Apollo program in the 1960s.
Some of the fire protection at these buildings is still of that vintage
while others have required innovative approaches because of the unique hazards
inside of them.
 One of the most visible buildings is the Vehicle
Assembly Building, or VAB. This
enormous building, which has a cubic volume of 129,482,000 cubic feet
(3,884,460 cubic meters) is the building where the various components of the
space shuttle are joined together and then transported to either launch pad
39A or 39B. Measuring 525 feet
(160 meters) tall it can withstand winds of up to 125 miles (201 kilometers)
per hour.
During the Apollo program the rockets were assembled in
the building and then transported to the launch pad where they were then
filled with liquid fuel. With the
advent of the space shuttle program, this changed.
When the solid rocket boosters, external tank and orbital shuttle are
mated in the VAB the result is a fueled vehicle inside of the building.
The external tank is filled with liquid fuels when the Shuttle reaches
the pad.
How do you provide protection for this type of hazard?
They minimize the ignition potential by minimizing the
ignition sources as much as possible, according to KSC fire officials.
However, if the fuels in the solid rocket boosters should be ignited
for some reason, there is nothing that is going to stop the resulting fire.
“Fine to say you are going to put out any fire but if the solids
ignite you are not going to put them out.
That is the hazard,” said Doug Carraway, chief fire prevention
engineer. “So we have had to do
a lot of emphasis on housekeeping, limiting the type of materials and
flammables you can have in there, keeping the areas clear and clean.”
However, it is possible to focus fire protection on the ancillary areas
within the VAB to reduce the dangers of an external fire threatening the
shuttle and endangering the occupants working in the building.
The focus in the VAB is on ensuring the safety of the
occupants so that they can evacuate the building as quickly as possible if an
event should occur. Carraway
reports that the building was designed to house over 5,000 people during the
Apollo era, but now there are usually only about 300 people working in the
building.
There are a series of twelve fire-rated stair towers
that extend the height of the building. Within
these stair towers are standpipes that provide the fire department with the
ability to fight fires on the upper floors of the building, very similar to a
high-rise building.
Fire Protection on Launch Pads 39 A and
B.
There are two similar launch pads where all of the
shuttle launches are conducted- Pads 39A and 39B.
Fortunately much of the structure is open to the atmosphere, and the
fuel load on the tower itself is relatively low. Therefore, the objective of the fire suppression system is to
provide a level of protection for the rescue and shuttle crews, allowing them
to escape safely. This is
accomplished by the installation of a deluge system on the tower. This system can be activated manually by the rescue team
leader at the base of the launch pad, on the upper level of the pad or
remotely by the Launch Control Center.
The deluge system covers the open floor areas on the
195-foot (59.4 meter) level and the level below as well as the swing arm that
extends from the tower out to the orbital and is fed by a water supply of
2,000,000 gallons (9,092,184 liters). If
the shuttle has to be evacuated in an emergency, the deluge system is
activated to provide an additional level of safety for the rescue crews and
the crews on the shuttle while they are moving from the orbiter to the
evacuation slides. There are a
series of four 3,500 gpm pumps at the pad to move the water to the deluge
system.
 In
addition to the fire suppression systems, there is a deluge system at the base
of the shuttle that is designed as both a sound suppressor and to protect the
mobile launch platform from being destroyed by the shuttle’s fiery blast.
Water from a 300,000-gallon (1,135,623 liters) tank is
discharged through 48-inch (1.2 meter) nozzles at the base of the shuttle
within seconds during launch. These
quenchers are fed from a series of 96-inch (2.4 meter) pipes.
Mobile Launch Platform
One of the hazards that has to be protected is one that
moves, albeit slowly-the Mobile Launch Platform or MLP.
The completely assembled shuttle rests on this massive two-story
vehicle that not only transports the shuttle from the VAB to one of the launch
platforms, but also serves as the platform from which the shuttle is launched.
 The MLP measures 25 feet (7.6 meters) tall, 160 feet
(49 meters) long and is 135 feet (41 meters) wide.
Unloaded it weighs 8.23 million pounds (3.73 million kilograms), and
with an unfueled shuttle on board the combined weight is 11 million pounds (5
million kilograms). Within the
MLP are a number of rooms that require constant monitoring for fire
conditions, in addition to the presence of hydraulic fluids and exotic fuels
that can present significant hazards during the transportation and fueling
operations at the launch pad.
The MLP, with the fueled shuttle on board, is
transported to the pad by the Crawler-Transporter.
Measuring 20 feet (6.1 meters) high, 131 feet (40 meters) long and 114
feet (34.7 meters) wide, each weighs 6,000,000 pounds (2.7 million kilograms).
The crawler rides on eight tracks and is powered by four 1,000-kilowatt
generators that, in turn, are driven by two 2,750-horsepower diesel engines.
Loaded, the Crawler moves at 1 mile per hour over the 3-mile trip from
the VAB to the launch pad.
NASA/CCAFS Fire Department
Fire protection at both the Kennedy Space Center and
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is provided under contract by Space Gateway
Support (SGS) from seven fire stations spread throughout the two complexes.
“There are a total of 153 fire fighters that make up the fire
department,” said Fire Chief Gerald Wimberly.
On duty staffing is comprised of 43 fire fighters that staff a total of
10 fire apparatus on a daily basis. All
of the fire fighters are required to meet certification that is compliant with
NFPA standards, be it through the state of Florida or the Department of
Defense. Many of the fire
fighters come to the department with extensive experience either in the
military or through municipal fire departments.
While there are certainly special hazards at KSC, it
also has many of the same risks as any other community. “We are like a small city in that we take care of the very
things that happen to citizens of any city,” said Wimberly. “However, we do not fight a lot of fire.
One of the reasons is the safety measures at the center and the Air
Force side. There is a good
inspection and engineering program that keeps our fire loss at a very low
level.” In 2002 there was only
$400.00 in fire loss on the complex according to Wimberly.
Along with the structural fire protection, the fire
department also provides ARFF protection at two airstrips.
While one of the most dramatic aircraft landings is the shuttle, many
other aircraft are landing on a regular basis.
The department uses ARFF vehicles just as any fire department may use
them during landings, but they also have some specialized uses.
“We use them for standby on hazardous situations such as at a launch
pad when they are offloading tanker cars of liquid oxygen or hydrogen. We will place an ARFF vehicle there because of its unique
abilities of carrying its own water supply and rapid response (to an
incident).”
Another facet that the department is heavily involved
in is wildland fire fighting. There
is a large environmentally sensitive area surrounding the facilities at KSC.
This involves extensive coordination among several different agencies
if a fire should break out. “U.S.
Fish and Wildlife and the Forest Service take care of any fire fighting
outside of the pads or facilities that we have…we only become involved if it
encroaches on any the facilities or pads.”
The fire fighters are trained and equipped for basic wildland fire
fighting. In addition, the NASA
helicopter fleet is equipped with Bambi buckets that provide for airborne fire
fighting capabilities.
Environmental
In addition to fire protection and EMS duties, the fire
department is responsible for responding to and controlling hazardous
materials spills, both on land and in the adjacent waterways. The department has several boats at their disposal, outfitted
with booms that can be quickly deployed to contain a spill.
Because of the sensitive nature of the environment around the KSC/CCAS,
it is important that this be done quickly.
EMS
The area where the fire department has a high level of
activity is EMS. This is due to
the large number of employees on the site as well as the visitor center, which
sees 2.2 million visitors a year. There
are three ambulances staffed with two paramedics on each one, which exceeds
the minimum state requirements. There
are also paramedics staffing the fire engines that can be used if needed,
according to Wimberly, to augment the ambulances.
Training
Extensive training is needed to ensure that the fire
fighters and command officers are prepared to respond to the myriad of
potential incidents. There are
five instructors and a number of props and facilities where the training is
undertaken. Because of the
military nature of the complex a number of fire fighters and command officers
are certified to various standards including Department of Defense and NFPA.
Structural Fire Protection
The variety of facilities at KSC and CCAS present very
unique challenges in providing structural fire protection.
However, even with the presence of extremely toxic and volatile
materials, the fire loss at KSC last year was only $400.00, according to Chief
Wimberly. He attributes this to a
strong safety culture and the fact that people are very knowledgeable in the
work that they do.
Every response is comprised, at a minimum, of a pumper
with three fire fighters and an ALS ambulance with two fire
fighter/paramedics. This provides
the flexibility on the scene of any incident to immediately provide either
fire suppression or EMS, depending upon the nature of the emergency.
Shuttle Launch and Landing
The two major events that the fire department has to
train, equip and prepare for are shuttle launches and landings.
A launch requires use of approximately 2/3 of the
department because they must prepare for rescue operations during the launch
itself as well as the possibility that the shuttle may be forced to perform a
Return to Landing Site (RLS). If
an emergency should occur within the first 70 seconds of flight it is possible
for the shuttle to return to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy
Space Center. Because of this,
crews have to be pre-positioned at both the launch site and the landing site.
For the launch, a specially trained Pad Rescue Team
made up of 15 members is staged 0.9 miles (1.4 kilometers) away from the
launch. This team is outfitted in
reflective Nomex ARFF turnout gear and uses LAP units which are liquefied air
breathing apparatus “and they were developed specifically for us at NASA,”
according to George Hoggard, a captain with KSC/USFA Fire Department who is in
charge of the pad rescue crews.
 Because
of the potential for exposure to significant fire or explosion, M113 armored
personnel carriers are used to transport the rescuers to the launch pad.
These are surplus military vehicles that are solely for transporting
personnel. If an incident should
occur, the entire efforts of the Pad team are focused on rescue, not on any
fire suppression.
As launch time gets closer, the number of personnel on
the launch pad is reduced. Prior
to launch, there is a closeout crew of seven people on the tower along with
the seven astronauts. If an event
should occur prior to launch the NASA Test Director (NTD) who is located in
the Launch Control Center (LCC) will immediately direct the Pad Rescue Team
leader to initiate a rescue.
 There are eight different rescue modes.
Modes 1 to 4 are for incidents at the pad while Modes 5, 6 and 7
involve an emergency with the shuttle once it has cleared the tower and is
still within the response capabilities of emergency forces at KSC.
For 70 seconds after launch it is still possible to abort the flight
and land back at the landing site at KSC.
Mode 8 is an over water rescue which involves the astronauts bailing
out of the shuttle and the Department of Defense is responsible for conducting
rescue operations under this scenario.
There are also several emergency landing sites located
around the globe for the shuttle to use.
These include Morocco and two in Spain.
Whether the shuttle would return to Kennedy or use one of the overseas
landing sites would depend upon the nature of the emergency and whether it
occurred during launch, orbit or re-entry.
When the Pad Rescue Team Leader receives notification
from the Launch Control Center of an emergency during launch, both M113s race
up the road to the pad. One M113,
with its crew of 8 people turns and heads towards the base of the basket
rescue lines. Seven members of
the other M113 immediately head to the high-speed elevator that will take them
up to the 195-foot level of the tower. As
soon as they reach this level, the team leader notifies the driver of the M113
who then heads to the base of the basket rescue lines.
On the 195 level two team members are detailed to
conduct an area search and determine if there is anyone on the tower or on the
level below. The other team
members remove the rescue equipment located in a locker adjacent to the swing
arm and head towards the shuttle orbiter.
In a worst-case scenario where all of the astronauts
have been incapacitated it will be necessary for the rescue crews to remove
them from the shuttle and transport them to the slide baskets.
To accomplish this they use stair chairs that are located in the rescue
equipment locker on the 195 level. One
at a time, the seven astronauts are removed from the orbiter, placed in a
stair chair and transferred to the basket.
A rescuer climbs into the basket and the unconscious astronaut is then
slid into the basket, supported by the rescuer.
As soon as a second rescuer is placed in the basket, the release
mechanism is tripped. The basket
then races down a 1,200-foot (366 meter) wire cable at 55 miles (89
kilometers) per hour to an arresting system, a ride that takes about 35
seconds. The second rescue team
then removes the victims from the basket and transfers them to an adjacent
bunker. This continues until all
of the victims have been removed from the shuttle orbiter.
The last person off of the tower is the Pad Rescue Team Leader.
The maximum number of people that could conceivably
need to be removed from the tower prior to a launch is 21. This would include the seven astronauts, a closeout crew of
seven people and the seven rescuers. All
of the astronauts are trained in how to operate the basket rescue system in
the event that they are able to extricate themselves prior to the arrival of
the fire department.
At the base of the basket rescue system is a hardened
bunker that provides a safe haven for the astronauts and rescuers.
Prior to entering the bunker the rescue team will use meters to
determine if the astronauts have been contaminated with any hazardous
materials and if so they are immediately decontaminated with a drench shower
outside of the bunker.
Inside of the bunker are a series of airline
connections for the astronauts, who are still wearing their flight suits, to
plug into. The crews can
communicate directly with the LCC through either telephones or the astronauts
can plug into a hardwired communication line.
If any of the astronauts are injured they can be
transported by ground ambulance to a medical facility or by helicopter.
A series of helicopter landing sites have been preidentified and either
NASA or the Air Force will land a helicopter to transfer the victim to one of
three area medical facilities.
 If the shuttle should launch, but then come down in the
water in the immediate area of KSC, the rescue becomes the responsibility of
the SAR team that is pre-positioned at the rescue helicopters near the landing
facility. The SAR team switches
modes from a land rescue to a water rescue, climb on board the pre-positioned
helicopter and then fly to the crash site.
If the orbiter has landed right side up in the water,
lines are shot over the top of the orbiter and a Jacob’s ladder is pulled up
from the water, allowing the rescuers to access a hatch at the top of the
orbiter. The crew is then removed
from the shuttle, the life vests on their parachute harnesses are inflated and
they are placed in the water to be lifted into the rescue helicopters.
Because it is possible for the shuttle to conduct a RLS
(return to landing site), another crew is standing by at the shuttle landing
facility during launch. This crew
is staffing a number of conventional ARFF and structural fire fighting
vehicles.
 During a normal shuttle landing, these same crews are
standing by on the 15,000-foot (4,572 meter) runway, which is twice the length
and width of many runways at commercial airports. Some of the crews are positioned in a nearby fire department
substation with the air conditioning set low to ensure that the fire fighters
core temperature is low in the event that they are called into action.
Specialty Teams
In addition to the teams that are responsible for
shuttle launch rescue operations there are a number of other specialty teams
within the fire department.
Tech Rescue
These fire fighters train for technical rescue
incidents such as high-angle, confined space, trench and the myriad of
incidents that may occur. While
there aren’t any mountains at KSC that will require high-angle rescue, the
height of some of the structures such as the VAB and the launch pads may
necessitate using these skills. A
new 85 foot (26 meter) control tower is being built at the SLF, and one of the
fastest methods for removing an injured person from the top level will be to
lower the person outside of the tower rather than having to manhandle them
down the interior stairways.
Hazardous Materials
Despite the presence of a large amount of exotic fuels
and hazardous materials, the department responded to only 60 hazardous
materials incidents last year, including a number of white-powder, suspected
anthrax incidents. “We don’t
do a lot of responses and that goes back to the safety aspect what goes on
here at KSC and the Air Force side,” said Wimberly.
When a hazardous materials incident does occur, the
department takes advantage of the work force at KSC. Because of the highly specialized operations being
undertaken, the workers are very knowledgeable in how to control the incident.
“When there is a release we respond and set up incident command,”
said Wimberly. “We use their
services (civilian employees) because they are the most knowledgeable person
to go in and turn a valve. That way we don’t have to have a fire fighter spending an
hour figuring out what valve to turn. The
worker can do it right away.” These
employees are often working in fully encapsulated ensembles called SCAPE
(self-contained atmospheric protective ensemble) with 2-hour rebreather units
that allows them to work safely in a potentially contaminated atmosphere.
The department’s hazardous materials team is made up
of 48 fire fighters, 16 per shift. “There
are personnel on duty each day ready to don Level A or B hazardous materials
suits” while the rest o the department supports the operations, said
Wimberly. The department also has
a technical rescue team made up of 18 members responsible for high angle
rescue and confined space operations, as well as other disciplines.
Fire Protection Engineering
There are a number of unique challenges that are faced
when designing fire protection systems. “As
you know water is the firefighter’s friend and it is the most used component
out here,” said Doug Carraway, chief fire prevention engineer.
“However, we have a lot of sophisticated equipment that a teacup of
water can cause 10 billion dollars in damage and we have to blend design and
protection to make sure that is really what we are doing.”
“We’ve made a lot of headway in regards to
detectors,” reports Carraway. “Some
are designed specifically for hypergols
for the most part we would want two activations for anything that has
to do with flight hardware so we have UV/IR and the new triple IR detectors to
activate any suppression systems.” Any
manual activation will require double-action devices to ensure that they are
not accidentally activated.
There are three fire protection engineers on staff that
conduct all of the plan reviews, acceptance testing and design customized
solutions for some of the more unique situations. One of the unusual ones involves the MLP when the shuttle is
being fueled at the launch platform.
“One of the challenges was that the NFPA standard
requires the Halon system had to dump within seconds,” said Carraway.
“At a critical part of the launch the mobile launch platform could be
out there with hydrogen tanking going on and you can’t go near it for 30
minutes.” They had to come up
with a solution where the system would discharge and provide protection for up
to 30 minutes while the systems were placed in a safe mode and firefighters
could approach the MLP.
How did they do this?
“”We got a lot of Halon and we phased it,”
reports Carraway. “We have the
initial dump. Then we did a lot
of testing and measurement to find out the leakage rate (for the room being
protected) and then there is a second bank of bottles that discharge at the
same time that are orificed down so the nozzles don’t freeze but will
maintain the concentration given the leakage rate.”
It was quite a challenge, according to Carraway.
Halon is still used at KSC, but it has been reduced
significantly. When Carraway
first came to KSC there were 84 systems.
Now there are only 6 and they are located at the launch pad. The operations at KSC have been designated as critical
operations and they serve as a centralized Halon repository where supplies can
be shipped from other facilities.
While the facilities such as the VAB and the launch pad
are some of the more technically sophisticated buildings, these are often not
the greatest challenges when it comes to fire protection.
“We have dog pounds, child care facilities, office
facilities, banks, credit union…we have just about everything you find in a
city,” said Carraway. “Some
of the more challenging issues that we get involved with have to do with those
type of facilities. Most of the
facilities on the cape were constructed as hangers.
The requirements for an aircraft hanger are a lot different than those
being used as an office facilities.”
An inspection program is key to their fire safety.
“We visit every facility at least once a year.
The processing facilities are visited four times a year.
We also have all of the burn permits we issue, flammable liquid
storage, anything like that are tied into the design agencies on both sides of
the river.”
SGS has ten inspectors working at KSC on a daily basis.
“Once we got into (inspector) certification per NFPA 1031 we
developed a 1031 program for those inspectors that did not have a state or
Department of Defense certification
Fire prevention training is provided to everyone at the
facility. Whenever someone
receives clearance to work in a given area they must go through mandatory
training and orientation for that facility, which includes fire safety.
Regular fire evacuation drills are conducted, but they are a challenge
to schedule because they cannot interfere with any of the ongoing operational
activities.
The fire protection challenges at the nation’s
spaceport are varied and complex. However,
through the use of standards, technology and ingenuity, solutions to the
unique problems are developed that provide a safe environment for the
launching of America’s space program.
Ed Comeau is the owner of writer-tech.com, a technical
writing firm. He is NFPA’s former
chief fire investigator.
SIDEBARS
Gases and liquids used either in the Shuttle or for the
launch
The propellants on the shuttle can be divided into three
categories.
Cryogenic
-
Extremely cold liquids that are compressed into much
smaller space. The two
cryogenics used are liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
Hypergolic
-
Fuels and oxidizers that ignite upon contact.
Suited for use in the vacuum of space.
-
Solid
-
Solid chemicals that burn at a rapid rate.
Once ignited, they cannot be stopped.
Hydrogen
-
384,071 gallons (1,453,867 liters) carried in the
external tank
-
Shipped to KSC in
13,000-gallon (49,210 liter) tankers
Oxygen
-
141,750 gallons (536582 liters) carried in the
external tank
-
Trucked to KSC via 6,000-gallon (22712 liter) tankers
Helium
-
Used for purging and pressurization
-
1,000,000 cubic feet (28316 cubic meters)
-
30,000 cubic feet (850 cubic meters) is carried on
board the shuttle
-
Transported in 11,000 gallon (41,640 liter) cryogenic
tankers
Hydrazine
-
129.2 gallons (489 liters)
-
Shipped in specially designed containers
Monomethylhydrazine (MMH)
-
Used to provide maneuvering thrust in the vacuum of
space
-
1,480 gallons (5,602 liters)
Nitrogen Tetroxide
-
Used to provide maneuvering thrust in the vacuum of
space
-
1,378 gallons (5,216 liters)
-
Nitrogen Textroxide and MMH are classified as
hypergolic fuels that will ignite when in contact with each other.
This makes them ideally suited for use in space, but extremely
hazardous on the ground. During
fueling, extreme safety measures are in place to ensure that there is not an
accident involving these volatile fuels.
Nitrogen
-
Large amounts are used for ground processing
-
30,000,000 cubic feet (849505 cubic meters) will be
used during a typical launch
-
Piped through 34 miles (55
kilometers) of 6,000 psi (414 bar) pipelines
---------------------
KSC Facilities
-
Shuttle Landing Facility
-
15,000 feet long (4572 meters)
-
300 feet wide (91.4 meters)
-
16 inches thick (40.6 centimeters)
Orbiter Processing Facility
-
Used to process the shuttle immediately after a
mission
-
Three identical bays measuring 197 feet (60 meters)
long, 150 feet (46 meters) wide and 95 feet (29 meters) high.
Covers 29,000-square feet (2,695 square meters).
Logistics facility
-
324,640-square-feet (30,159-square-meter)
-
Contains 150,000 components for the space shuttle
-
Uses an automated parts retrieval system
Spacecraft Assembly and
Encapsulation Facility 2
-
17,098 square-foot (1,588-square-meter)
-
Used for processing and sterilizing large payloads
and spacecraft in a class-100,000 clean work area.
Includes an airlock, high bay, two low bays, test cells and support
areas
Vertical Processing Facility
-
105 feet (32 meters) high covering 26,940 square feet
(2,503 square-meters)
-
Used to process and integrate vertical payloads in a
class-100,000 clean work area
Solid Rocket Booster
Processing Facilities
-
Solid Rocket Booster
Disassembly Facility
-
After being jettisoned during a launch, the solid
rocket boosters are retrieved from the ocean and towed back to KSC.
They are lifted out of the water, cleaned and disassembled.
-
Solid Rocket Booster
Assembly and Refurbishment Facility
-
This is actually seven different buildings where the
solid rocket boosters are prepared for their next flight.
Rotation Processing and Surge
Facility
-
New and reloaded solid rocket booster segments
shipped by rail are processed in this facility.
Vehicle Assembly Building
-
525 feet (160 meters) tall
-
716 feet (218 meters) long
-
518 feet (158 meters) wide
-
129,482,000 cubic feet (3,884,460 cubic meters)
volume
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