The Saturn IB rocket. The second stage of that rocket was the S-IVB and was used as the third stage for the Saturn V rockets which would go to the moon.
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These are some seriously epic pictures. Now I'm lit with the desire to go there. I suppose I'll do the next best thing and go down and see what's changed in seattle's museum of flight in the last decade or two.
I wonder what's so horrid about sending a rocket up through some clouds? The museum of flight has a space exhibit that's opening up in June. I'm going to see if I can conn lishd into that.
Believe it or not, I can't find a word about it in any of my texts around here.
I know that they will scrub launches if the clouds are too low (5,000 feet), too widespead, or too thick (about 4,500 feet). They can also be too cold -- temperatures have to be no lower than -20 C. Any precipitation is also a no-go.
There are some worries about the effect of a lightning strike. Apollo 12 was struck by lightning and lost some equipment as a result. That was very nearly an aborted launch, actually. My guess is that this is the main reason why weather can kill a launch.
Interestingly enough, weather can cause a scrub even if the sky is perfectly clear over the launch site -- it has to be clear over the abort sites as well.
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Worth noting: That's what the weather looked like the day before the shuttle launch. When they said there was only a 30% of launch, they meant it.
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I know that they will scrub launches if the clouds are too low (5,000 feet), too widespead, or too thick (about 4,500 feet). They can also be too cold -- temperatures have to be no lower than -20 C. Any precipitation is also a no-go.
There are some worries about the effect of a lightning strike. Apollo 12 was struck by lightning and lost some equipment as a result. That was very nearly an aborted launch, actually. My guess is that this is the main reason why weather can kill a launch.
Interestingly enough, weather can cause a scrub even if the sky is perfectly clear over the launch site -- it has to be clear over the abort sites as well.
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