Kathy Lessa's STS74 Shuttle Launch

STS-74 - Launchpad 39A

November 10th, 1995, Friday

The highlight of the tour was the launchpad. The shuttle Atlantis was already there, of course, on its launchpad. A huge banner proclaiming "Go ATLANTIS" was there at the entrance to the pad. There's a real sense of excitement all throughout Kennedy Space Center before a launch -- countdown signs are posted everywhere, and everyone's just stoked for the launch.

These photographs don't do justice to how overwhelmingly HUGE the shuttle and rocket assembly are. These views show the water tower with its giant pipe leading into the tank in the launch pad. The water tower contains 300,000 gallons of water, which are dumped into the launch pad at ignition as part of the "sound suppression system"; that in fact is what makes the majority of the visible "smoke" at ignition. The shuttle itself is hidden from view by the gantry still attached over the top of it -- they still were loading in the payload and getting things ready, and had not yet pulled away the service structure.

nasa tour

atlantis

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