Discovery's launch pad severely damaged

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by rpshen | June 2, 2008 at 03:39 pm
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Space Shuttle STS-116 Launch, press site

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Space Shuttle STS-116 Launch, press site
According to NASA, launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center suffered major damage during shuttle Discovery's blastoff on Saturday.

Heat-resistant bricks lining large sections of the "flame trench" wall beneath the shuttle's mobile launch platform were blown out by Discovery's booster exhaust, littering the area behind the pad and damaging a perimeter fence.

The Apollo-era launch complexes, modified for the space shuttle, must endure enormous pressures and extreme heating when shuttles take off but its not yet clear what caused the damage or whether the debris could have posed a risk for Discovery. Based on photos from cameras around the pad perimeter, the damage appeared to occur after Discovery was well off the pad.

The next launch from pad 39A is scheduled for Oct. 8. NASA sources say engineers believe the damage can be repaired by then with no impact on plans to launch Atlantis on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Source: spaceflightnow.com

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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (13)

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davedude
davedude

at 10:19 on June 3rd, 2008

Launch Pad 39A - Kennedy Space Center - Image taken in March 2008

davedude has contributed a photo to this story.

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Dominic de Kerf
Dominic de Kerf

at 12:44 on June 3rd, 2008

It is truely amazing how small the space was in which the pioneers entered space and even went to the moon. I was born just about when Neil Armstrong was walking on the moon and I forgot what people actually achieved in those days.

Dominic de Kerf has contributed a photo to this story.

0
DaveDoop
DaveDoop

at 14:19 on June 3rd, 2008

This was taken on the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) right after liftoff.

DaveDoop has contributed a photo to this story.

0
ranr1023
ranr1023

at 14:56 on June 3rd, 2008

This photo was taken on a trip I took over Spring Break 2008.

ranr1023 has contributed a photo to this story.

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gentecsys
gentecsys

at 15:42 on June 3rd, 2008

This photo was taken from the observation point at KSC

gentecsys has contributed a photo to this story.

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picoz
picoz

at 06:56 on June 4th, 2008

i took this photo when i was on holiday.
it used to be the largest volume building in the wprld. it is in kennedy space centre florida.

picoz has contributed a photo to this story.

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c0r0cked
c0r0cked

at 09:16 on June 4th, 2008

This picture was taken in April 2007 during my trip to KSC.

c0r0cked has contributed a photo to this story.

0
karthikv
karthikv

at 09:44 on June 4th, 2008

This was taken during my trip to the Kennedy Space Center

karthikv has contributed a photo to this story.

0
aditya_d12
aditya_d12

at 11:47 on June 4th, 2008

This was taken with my 55-200 mm on Nikon D60

aditya_d12 has contributed a photo to this story.

0
$MR!T!
$MR!T!

at 22:58 on June 5th, 2008

I went to Kennedy Space Center a week before Atlantis was supposed to take off to outer space. This picture was taken then.

$MR!T! has contributed a photo to this story.

0
ikarus1969
ikarus1969

at 21:26 on June 6th, 2008

Image taken through a holiday on 24th of December in 2003

ikarus1969 has contributed a photo to this story.

0
randybkc
randybkc

at 08:20 on June 10th, 2008

Taken in April 2008 at the Kennedy Space Center.

randybkc has contributed a photo to this story.

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partlyhuman
partlyhuman

at 17:58 on June 24th, 2008

Taken in early April at the Kennedy Space Center on the coast of Florida.

partlyhuman has contributed a photo to this story.

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