"Best of the Best" Provides New Views, Commentary of Shuttle Launches

What people said

Cites Hobbes · 2016-01 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Do strongbacks/launch towers have to be repainted or refurbished after a launch?”

On e.g. the Saturn and Shuttle launches, vulnerable items like umbilicals are retracted into closed spaces, with a door closing over them in time to protect them. This very detailed video [this video] of a Shuttle launch shows some of those (at 9:40, for example). The audio commentary mentions (around 9:00) that the cameras on the platform and tower are inside explosion-proof boxes, in a nitrogen atmosphere. The lenses are protected by quartz glass covers. These get damaged sometimes and have to be reground and polished. On almost every launch [LINK] , items like tools were left behind and got blasted away, melted or otherwise damaged by the rocket exhaust. Even parts attached to the tower struct

Cites Hobbes · 2016-01 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “LV Telemetry links on the launch pad”

Yes, control and telemetry links are incorporated into the umbilicals. Shuttle launch video, at 9:00 [this video] , and here are plans for the umbilicals for SLS [LINK] . During the launch sequence there's a point where control of the rocket is handed over from the launch control center to the internal systems [LINK] . For the Shuttle, this starts at T -20 minutes [LINK] : Up to this point, control over the countdown and all launch systems resides with a set of computers on the ground, known as the Launch Processing System (LPS). At T-20:00, the Orbiter general purpose computers (GPCs) are loaded with their first set of operations software (OPS1) and formed into a cluster of four GPCs with a fift

Cites user10509 · 2016-02 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “What's the white tall tower with a tank near Space Shuttle launch pad?”

Here is extended high speed camera footage [this video] of space shuttle launches showing all the water cooling going on. In it, they specifically point out these towers and their purpose (as stated in the answer).

Cites the world is not flat · 2020-05 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Are rocket tanks being filled up until the last seconds before liftoff?”

In rocket launch videos, we often observe liquid propellant rocket engines running at full thrust for several seconds before actual liftoff. We understand that liquid propellant rockets consume a significant amount of propellant before liftoff [LINK] , (between 0.5% and 0.75% for the Space Shuttle). We also observe that rocket tanks remain connected till the last seconds with quick disconnect lines. See for instance this slow motion images of the Space Shuttle liftoff when the quick disconnect quit contact at minute 9 and minute 29 [this video] . Hence my question, is/can the tank be filled up through the quick disconnect line until the last seconds before liftoff, in order to maximize the rocket

Cites Organic Marble · 2023-02 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “SLS SRB sound suppression system”

The SLS launch pad does not have the same system. I haven't found a source with an explicit statement that says no, but I can give a sourced explanation of why the shuttle pad had the red water sausages, and why the SLS does not need them. The red water sausages were on the shuttle pad because: Specifically, the red water bags are used to dampen the wave of sound energy that is reflected back up toward the Space Shuttle when the Solid Rocket Boosters ignite during launch. If this powerful pulse of pressure were not suppressed, it would create a dangerous stress on the wings of the orbiter. Source: Red Water Sausages [LINK] Note that the holes in the shuttle pad for the SRB plumes are elongat