** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

Regardless of what I might think of Elon, SpaceX has changed the world of space flight and the Falcon 9 in its various forms is a masterpiece that just works.

It’s because of this that I enjoy the following video so much:

 
Have you guys seen the launch pad?

It's gone! The launch pad no longer exists lmao , so much for reinforced concrete. They really need to build a diverter tunnel


Here is the before picture; nice layer of concrete pad everywhere







And here is after the launch, all the concrete is gone and there is a huge crater in the center!


 
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That wasn't just concrete, it was some special concrete like material that is meant to be able to handle the heat and shockwaves of rocket engines. They need to build a flame trench, I just can't see a way around it.
 
They have a substantial deluge system ready to install according to photos of the site taken in the last few weeks. So by the time of the next launch I imagine there will be a much much bigger flame attenuation system. They actually manufactured it at the Florida site and then barged it across.

So maybe that will help.
 
Fuzz said:
Concrete from the launch pad seems to have been somewhat destructive.

Click to expand...
I seem to remember reading something from one of the top guys at NASA about what I think he called "Range safety waivers" for launches.
Basically how close to the launch you can be safely for various things and how you basically have to issue the safety waivers to do anything, IIRC you need them to even do routine stuff near the rockets once they've been fuelled let alone say walk with the astronauts to it, even the NASA public observation stands are technically far too close for some scenarios, but to fully comply with the safety requirements you'd pretty much have to evacuate half of Texas for most launches from Houston.

[edit[
I'm trying to remember where it was as it was interesting and I thought i'd bookmarked it (the guy wrote a bunch of explanations for various NASA related subjects on what I think was his personal blog after he retired).
 
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