Space Shuttle Processing Photos

Terry Olaes

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
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Nov 27, 2006
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Space geeks will like this one. Someone posted a series of pics showing the processing of the Space Shuttle Discovery, from the arrival of the external tank to launch. I had no idea that some of these steps took place. Neat stuff.
 
Saw this a few days ago on stumbleupon, interesting stuff and only now do i realize the sheer size of the shuttle
 
I got to see that building close up, it is massive...the pictures do little to no justice of how big it is.
 
I got to stand on top of the VAB once during a launch. (I know an astronaut) Shit is amazing.
 
In the next hundred years these things will be going up a more frequently. W/o as many variables, less pollution, and probably in star ships.
 
From one of the posts:

JamesNASA said:
Sorry guys, you've all been duped.

These are screenshots from a powerpoint, that the orginal poster has lifted them from, that was an April Fool a few years ago about renaming the KSC facilities. It was a hoax that was debunked on the www.nasaspaceflight.com forum section back at the time where the orginal was posted.

Notice how the images (which are average images you see any day of the week on nasa.gov (KSC multimedia section) are nearly all incorrectly tagged. "Vertical" Assembly Building is actually "Vehicle" Assembly Building (VAB), Tank is from MAF (Michoud Assembly Facility), not "MS". I could go on (past the poster above who noted the inaccurate nature of this, but this is not a NASA presentation. No one who either works for the space program, or has a basic understanding of processing, would make such basic mistakes.

Reminds me of the kid who posted an ascent image from a WB57 chase plane and claimed "I work for NASA, and these are from the ISS" ;)

A moderator would do well in noting these facts in the opening post.
Click to expand...

And another:
NeilFraiser said:
Nice set of pictures. Here's a bunch of corrections:
"Solid Rockets Are Attached". Actually it's the other way around. The SRBs are the very first thing that are stacked on the MLP. The ET is dropped between the fully stacked (and fueled!) SRBs.
"Engines are Attached to Solids". No, the SRBs are fully assembled long before the ET reaches Florida. See here: http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_031118.html
"Engines are Attached to the Shuttle in the Shuttle Processing Facility". Actually it's called the "Orbiter Processing Facility".
"New Module for ISS". Actually that's the Leonardo MPLM which is not new. It has been to ISS many times before. It's just a packing container that is brought back and forth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Purpose_Logistics_Module
"Payload Ready to be moved to the Launch Pad". Nope, that's the shuttle at the launch pad. See the yellow ribs on the outside of the doors? Those are the strongbacks attached to the payload bay doors to prevent them from warping. This photo (and the following one) should be moved way down the page.
The untitled photo of the shuttle next to the sunset is also out of sequence, it is on the crawler nowhere near the launch pad. Needs to be moved three photos up. In its place should be the earlier two payload photos showing the yellow strongbacks.
Click to expand...

Just makes you wonder eh?

Though the OP of the pics never actually claimed to have taken them!! =)
 
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