Vehicle Assembly Building

2009 Kennedy Space Center Visit

Folder: Space Stuff
Various pieces of space hardware and infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Ares-1X

Ares-1X

06 Aug 2009 54
The upper stage simulator and spacecraft/LAS simulator for the upcoming Ares-1X test flight. Both components are dummy units, and won't actually perform during the test.
Big Door

Big Door

06 Aug 2009 51
The inside of one of the giant garage doors into the VAB.
Belly

Belly

06 Aug 2009 62
The underside of one of the MLPs, in this case the one on which the Ares-1X vehicle is being stacked.
Passage

Passage

06 Aug 2009 68
The passage between the storage/staging high bay and the transfer aisle in the VAB. The passage is used to transfer components (Saturn stages, nowadays Orbiters, ETs, and SRB segments) from the transfer aisle into the high bay, by lifting them up and over the wall using a 175-ton bridge crane.
High Bay

High Bay

06 Aug 2009 59
Looking straight up in the safe haven high bay.
Safe Haven Stands

Safe Haven Stands

06 Aug 2009 58
Two of the stands for parking an MLP, in the "safe haven" high bay in the VAB. Note the similar layout but different appearance of these, vs. the Apollo-vintage versions in other photos.
Passage

Passage

06 Aug 2009 44
A bridge crane seen through the passage in the wall between the safe haven highbay and the transfer aisle.
New MLP

New MLP

06 Aug 2009 41
Construction of the new mobile launch platform and launch umbilical tower for Constellation/Ares-I, next to OPF-3 at the VAB.
Bunker

Bunker

06 Aug 2009 79
An armored personnel carrier and one of the shelters for the crew, at the end of the slide wires.
Tunnels

Tunnels

06 Aug 2009 70
Apparently, these are escape tunnels running to the "rubber room" under the pad, a room with rubber-isolated seats where the crew could take shelter in the event of a catastrophic accident at the pad (an alternative to the slide wire baskets, which terminate just above these doors).
Discovery

Discovery

06 Aug 2009 52
An angle you almost never see.
Discovery

Discovery

06 Aug 2009 56
From the "back" side of the pad, looking into the SRB side of the flame trench.
Discovery

Discovery

06 Aug 2009 71
From the "back" side of the pad, looking into the SRB side of the flame trench.
Discovery

Discovery

06 Aug 2009 61
Note the high-pressure gas bottles in the bunker built into the side of the pad.
Cone and Ogive

Cone and Ogive

06 Aug 2009 62
The tops of the port SRB and the External Tank.
White Room

White Room

06 Aug 2009 57
The white room arm and white room from above.
Stack

Stack

06 Aug 2009 69
Discovery on the launch pad
Structure

Structure

06 Aug 2009 91
Looking down into the rotating service structure.
183 items in total