Space Shuttle preparation...unseen by the public

[Barry N]

Have you ever wondered about the preparation for flight on the NASA fleet of shuttles. This is pretty interesting stuff.

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB11&Number=1016238&page=0&fpart=all

[smythey]

Some really cool pictures - good find.

Im pretty sure its "Vehicle Assembly Buidling", not "Vertical Assembly Building" though...!

[mogzieee]

Have you ever wondered about the preparation for flight on the NASA fleet of shuttles. This is pretty interesting stuff.

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB11&Number=1016238&page=0&fpart=all

Wow, thats pretty cool, nice find too

[mactastic]

Hmm... odd, I don't see a single Wookie or R2 unit.

[puckhead193]

some awesome pics. Would suck if one of those cables lifting the shuttle verticle snapped... :eek:

[mr.light]

Some really cool pictures - good find.

Im pretty sure its "Vehicle Assembly Buidling", not "Vertical Assembly Building" though...!

It
is Vertical I believe. Comes from the original Saturn and Mercury rocket series that had to be assembled vertically.

[smythey]

It
is Vertical I believe. Comes from the original Saturn and Mercury rocket series that had to be assembled vertically.

Thats maybe what it was called originally, but not now. In the 1000+ hours Ive spent on the forums at nasaspaceflight.com, and the 50 odd of hours watching the (usually quite boring) press conferences on NASATV with the nasa folks, they always say "Vehicle".

Look it up here (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/random-quotes/view-acronyms.asp)- these guys know their stuff.

[AoWolf]

Thats pretty cool! I love going outside to or driving down to the cape to watch the launches. One thing that always amazed me is how dirty the shuttle looks. Mismatching tiles and whatnot. I am sure there is a good reason though.

Edit: When I was at the cape a month or two ago they defiantly called it vehicle assembly building.

[RBMaraman]

It
is Vertical I believe. Comes from the original Saturn and Mercury rocket series that had to be assembled vertically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Assembly_Building

Fantastic pictures! It's amazing the amount of work that goes into preparing the shuttle.

[AustinD]

As a young chap on a field trip to the Kennedy Space Center (roughly 40 minutes away), I stood behind those big windows in the rear (of the picture) of the Payload Prep Room, and I can honestly say I witnessed one of the guys whom was luckily not carrying anything trip and do a nice faceplant.

And yes, its certainly Vehicle Assembly Building, not vertical. If im not mistaken, the building is so large and empty, being basically one gigantic room, that if the doors are left open with the right conditions outside clouds will form in the room and a slight precipitation(of sorts)will occour.

[ucfgrad93]

It is most definitely the Vehicle Assembly Building. It is just freaking enormous. I had the opportunity to see a night launch from about 3-4 miles away back in 1994. It was just an amazing sight.