108
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Why is the American space program launch site based in Florida and not Texas?
Basically, the most prominent reason is so that if something happens during launch, it happens over the Atlantic and not someone else.
Anything launching over the Gulf of Mexico will probably cross ...
- 23.8k
65
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Why is the American space program launch site based in Florida and not Texas?
Until 1949, the U.S. launched rockets from Wallops Island in Virginia and the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico. The Rockets launched from Wallops were of American origin while the ...
- 73.2k
64
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Which has been the most gregarious rocket, launched from the most sites?
The Apollo Lunar Module has launched from six lunar sites:
Apollo 11 — Mare Tranquillitatis
Apollo 12 — Oceanus Procellarum
Apollo 14 — Fra Mauro
Apollo 15 — Hadley/Apennines
Apollo 16 — ...
- 1,857
61
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Why were the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts backed up by guards with automatic weapons?
Why were the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts backed up by guards with automatic weapons?
A NASA crew launch is a highly-visible symbol of US national pride. I mean, the slogan for the whole campaign is ...
- 18k
53
votes
Are there any known reasons why there are no spaceports in the European Union?
The area of the European Continent is too far away from the equator and there are very few places allowing an eastward orbital launch over an ocean. Used first stages should not crash on densely ...
- 48.8k
52
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Why are Japan's launch facilities so far north?
Logistic concerns tend to outweigh small performance differences. Courtesy of Uhoh in the question comments, the 7° difference in latitude is worth $$\left(\cos(24°) - \cos(31°)\right) \frac{ 2 \pi \...
- 167k
51
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Why isn't SpaceX constructing the Super Heavy launch mount on top of the water?
Salt does all sorts of unpleasant things to just about every building material humans use. Hot salt spray, such as you'd get from a rocket launch, is even worse: spraying something with hot saltwater ...
- 14.6k
50
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Why is this part of the Space Shuttle launch pad suspended so high off the ground?
That is the Rotating Service Structure.
It can be rotated to fit over the Shuttle while it is on the pad, giving access to the Shuttle cargo bay. The empty space allows the RSS to fit over the ...
- 126k
47
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"Pillars of Baikonur" What is the purpose of the hundreds of short, white posts near the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad?
I found this article on the site of the Russian news agency Vesti.
Подземный бункер пуска - самое близкое к старту место. Над ним специальные бетонные столбики, так называемые волнорезы, чтобы ...
- 9,041
43
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Why were the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts backed up by guards with automatic weapons?
Partial answer covering only
Is this a new thing, or were similar military guards around to guard Shuttle crews as well?
It is not a new thing.
Photo by former colleague Michael Grabois at STS-101 ...
- 178k
40
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Why are Japan's launch facilities so far north?
That was the southernmost point in Japan (at the time)
The answer to your question has its roots in history more so than it does in science. Tanegashima was chosen in 1966 and the space center ...
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39
votes
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Why won't SpaceX launch a rocket for a month?
The Eastern Range run by the Air Force has a 2 or 3 week maintenance window. Thus no one is launching from either Cape Canaveral (Where LC-39A is located), nor the CCAFS (Cape Caneveral Air Force ...
- 79.3k
38
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Advantages of launching very large rocket while submerged, buoyant, in a body of water
Sea Dragon
The very large rocket was probably Sea dragon and the advantages were more on allowing a massive vehicle to be built at all rather than inherent advantages in starting underwater.
(image ...
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37
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Which has been the most gregarious rocket, launched from the most sites?
Thanks to Vikki - formerly Sean who pointed out that not one, but two east central Florida airstrips were used.
Pegasus, whose carrier plane has lifted off from
Edwards AFB
Cape Canaveral Air Force ...
- 178k
34
votes
Which has been the most gregarious rocket, launched from the most sites?
The Soyuz booster have been launched from:
Baikonur
Plesetsk
Kourou
Vostochny
Making it the only rocket to have been launched from 3 (4 if you count USSR) different countries and 3 different ...
- 12.6k
32
votes
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Why was InSight planned to launch from Vandenberg?
According to the article "Seven Ways Mars InSight is Different", the driver was launch site availability:
InSight will ride on top of a powerful Atlas V 401 rocket, which allows for a planetary ...
- 167k
27
votes
Are Armageddon's simultaneous shuttle launches feasible?
Most of your concerns can be put to rest by this image:
Image credit: NASA, Source: Wikipedia
For the last time in the Shuttle program, Space Shuttles Atlantis and
Endeavour are placed ...
- 76.5k
25
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"Pillars of Baikonur" What is the purpose of the hundreds of short, white posts near the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad?
Those pillars intended to decrease a damage if a launcher falls just on start.
The only mention of this I found is in russian language blog post about a travel to Baikonur:
Внизу, чуть в стороне, ...
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25
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What benefits can be gained from launching below ground?
This is essentially piston launch; in principle a deep enough hole could let you get the piston up to speeds approaching the speed of sound in the expanding gas driving the piston.
Assuming you're ...
- 167k
25
votes
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Why did NASA collect so much data about electrical phenomena at the Apollo 13 launch site?
According to an article from the Lunar and Planetary Institute (archive.org link):
As a result of the electrical disturbances experienced during the Apollo 12 launch, several experiments were ...
- 167k
21
votes
Why a 900,000 gallons LOX storage tank at Launch Complex 39?
Excess capacity was needed in the storage sphere to allow for multiple attempts in a launch campaign.
Much of the propellant was recovered during a scrub but not all.
The storage spheres were loaded ...
- 178k
20
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What happened to boiled-off gases from the storage tanks at Launch Complex 39?
For shuttle:
The oxygen was dumped into a basin to boil off (red arrow) or released through the External Tank vent valve, through the "beanie cap", and out a pair of vent ducts that ran through the "...
- 178k
20
votes
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Why does launching east result in an orbital inclination equal to the latitude of the launch site?
The center of the Earth is, for any reasonable approximation, in one of the focus points of an elliptical orbit. For a circular orbit, there is only one focus point, so the center of the Earth is in ...
- 14.1k
18
votes
What benefits can be gained from launching below ground?
Note that for silo launched missiles the exhaust is typically vented out of the silo instead of serving to pressurize the silo.
Why are they vented?
An unvented silo would vastly increase the ...
- 178k
18
votes
Accepted
Why were two different California airbases (Vandenberg and Edwards) intended for Shuttle launches versus landings?
Why have two separate sites for launch and landing, instead of consolidating them at one site?
The plan was to have one site for both launch and landing. The Challenger disaster resulted in a change ...
- 14.1k
18
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Are cherry-pickers a new thing in spaceflight?
Cherry pickers go back to at least 1961.
Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) flight configuration with cherry picker, on one of many tests conducted to evaluate astronaut escape feasibility.
Image # : 71P-0257
...
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17
votes
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How does an array of concrete pillars protect a launch control bunker?
The citation you give is correct, albeit a bit misleading.
If a rocket fails so soon after launch that it strikes any of the structure on and around the launch pad, the result is in any case a huge ...
- 14.9k
17
votes
How was the Buran launch stack assembled?
It was done horizontally, in a separate building called MIK-112 (MIK is translated as ‘assembly and testing building’)
See more details and photos here:
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/...
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16
votes
What decides if a launch has to be done instantaneously or during a window?
In the case of Falcon 9 / Orbcomm OG2 launch from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL that's now scheduled for Dec. 20th at 8:29 p.m. EST (01:29 a.m. UTC), according to Spaceflight Now:
...
- 76.5k
16
votes
Accepted
Are Armageddon's simultaneous shuttle launches feasible?
There's no historical precedent for simultaneous launch, but some early space program rendezvous experiments had flights launched somewhat close together.
Gemini 8, 10, 11, and 12 each launched ...
- 167k
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