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![]() wrote in message oups.com... The weather at Vandenberg is often too cold to launch the shuttle which may be a major reason why the facility there was mothballed when the drometer problem was fully appreciated. That, and there were problems with the launch pad foundation. What is too cold? Vandenburg doesn't get too cold... The primary reason that I heard was that the shuttle could not lift a large enough payload into the polar orbit that was the priamry mission for launches from Vandenburg... The whole facility build was a boon to the central coast economy for many years tho', and is used for delta launches today... |
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![]() Blueskies wrote: wrote in message oups.com... The weather at Vandenberg is often too cold to launch the shuttle which may be a major reason why the facility there was mothballed when the drometer problem was fully appreciated. That, and there were problems with the launch pad foundation. What is too cold? Vandenburg doesn't get too cold... After the Challenger disaster the minimum acceptable ambient temperature for launch was raised. I do not recall the spec, but Vandenberg has typical overnight lows below it for a substantial part of the year. That was about the time that the decision was made to mothball the South Vandenberg shuttle facility. Now that heaters are used on the booster joints that minimum is back down to where launching from Vandenberg is feasible. The primary reason that I heard was that the shuttle could not lift a large enough payload into the polar orbit that was the priamry mission for launches from Vandenburg... Not likely. The shuttle payload has not been reduced since the construction of the Vandeberg facility. However the types of payloads permitted have been revised. The Shuttle is not allowed to carry RPGs or other radioactive materials in any substantial quantity and the there is now a smaller maximum permissible size for solid boosters carried in the payload compartment. Those restrictions probably preclude a number of military payloads. The whole facility build was a boon to the central coast economy for many years tho', and is used for delta launches today... The cross-track capability during re-entry was a design spec intended to allow one-orbit shuttle missions to launch from South Vandenberg, pop out a satellite and then land at Edwards. -- FF |
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