Browsing Kennedy Space Centre on Google Earth and found..

[irfan1712]

Was bored yesterday lunch time in work and was randomly exploring the Kennedy Space Centre on google earth ( as you do? ) and came across a space shuttle casually parked up on the side of the Space Shuttle Landing strip! I thought the space shuttle program had retired.. does anyone have any info on why a shuttle would be parked up here?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search/kennedy+space...

The link to google maps above, viewed on my laptop is dated 2017. yet when i look at google maps on my iPhone, that shuttle is no longer there so i assume for some reason they are both different dates? i initially thought it was this https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/05/07/x-37b-spacep... but the proportions look llke a full size shuttle on the google maps image.

Again nosing around the whole complex, i came across one of the ginormous shuttle 'crawler' movers randomly sat on the crawler way road (which leads to one of two launch platforms). I thought these would have retired when the space shuttle program did, or would they still be in use for the private firms now using the launchpads for their own stuff?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search/kennedy+space...

[768]

My guess -

The link said:

Now parked on a concrete apron near the air traffic control tower at the midpoint of the runway, the Inspiration will be modified for its new "mission" — heading out on America's waterways.

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-042916a-space-shuttle-inspiration-slf.html

[Steve_D]

Re the crawler.
I think it is moving rather than parked.
I think it is moving right to left. Ahead of it are two escort vehicles and a crossing road has been blocked off by another two vehicles.

Steve

[Eric Mc]

The Crawlers were originally built for Apollo. They were modified for the Shuttle programme and have been modified and refurbished for SLS - so they are still working pieces of kit.

The Shuttle is the non flying replica that was on display at the visitors' centre It has been replaced at the centre by the real orbiter "Atlantis". I think the replica will be retained but I'm not sure how it will be displayed..

[Tim-D]

Atlantis (well at least in '13 it was ) is inside displayed with the payload bay open...much bigger than you may have thought it is..

[Mave]

Tim-D said:

Atlantis (well at least in '13 it was ) is inside displayed with the payload bay open...much bigger than you may have thought it is..

Still there last Christmas!

[mantis84]

Mave said:

Tim-D said:

Atlantis (well at least in '13 it was ) is inside displayed with the payload bay open...much bigger than you may have thought it is..

Still there last Christmas!

Still there a couple of weeks ago when I visited. Sadly due to hurricane Irma having just visited we couldn't go and do the bus tour around the launch pads - did I miss much?

[mantis84]

Mave said:

Tim-D said:

Atlantis (well at least in '13 it was ) is inside displayed with the payload bay open...much bigger than you may have thought it is..

Still there last Christmas!

Still there a couple of weeks ago when I visited. Sadly due to hurricane Irma having just visited we couldn't go and do the bus tour around the launch pads - did I miss much?

[Eric Mc]

I'd certainly be disappointed if I couldn't get a tour of the pads and the VAB.

[Buzz84]

I recall watching the footage of the X37 landing earlier this year and it landed on that runway and the shuttle could be seen parked alongside it still

(my work PC's block YouTube so I cannot look for the footage to post unfortunately)

[Eric Mc]

Replica Orbiter visible at 0:43 and 1:53 into the video -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQRMzygiQQ&t=...

[48k]

mantis84 said:

Still there a couple of weeks ago when I visited. Sadly due to hurricane Irma having just visited we couldn't go and do the bus tour around the launch pads - did I miss much?

I'd say yes - I've done the "Up Close" bus tour twice and it was a fantastic experience both times albeit back in the day when the shuttle programme was active. Although the shuttle has been retired 6 years and Launch complex 39 and the two pads have undergone a lot of changes and alterations since, I would happily do the tour again if I got the chance. If nothing else, the sheer size of everything is simply mind blowing.

Edit: looking at the KSC site, the Up Close tour no longer exists but there is an "Explore Tour" which sounds similar.

Edited by 48k on Monday 2nd October 13:48

[RumbleOfThunder]

I found where one met it's untimely demise nearby.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/28%C2%B034'52....

[Eric Mc]

Looks like a murder scene

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

Looks like a murder scene

Why so many launchpads?

[48k]

Simpo Two said:

Why so many launchpads?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral_Air_Force_Station#Facilities

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Eric Mc said:

Looks like a murder scene

Why so many launchpads?

Mostly historic reasons. They've been launching rockets at Cape Canaveral since the early 1950s. In that time, hundreds of different types of rockets have been launched. When a new rocket arrives on the scene, the facilities needed to launch it often require a new pad and related accessories. These days, old pads are usually modified but in the 50s and 60s the norm was to build a new pad for each new type of rocket.

NASA actually only has two pads of its own, the two built for the Apollo missions (39A and 39B). Both were modified for Shuttle operations. 39A is now under lease to SpaceX who are gradually modifying it for Falcon Heavy operations. 39B will be used for the SLS rocket.

All the other pads or on the Air Force side of the fence and are actually owned by the Department of Defense. However, they are used frequently by civilian operators such as NASA and commercial companies to launch non military missions. The main rockets launched from Cape Canaveral these days are versions of the Atlas and Delta family and, of course, the SpaceX Falcon 9.

[lost in espace]

mantis84 said:

Still there a couple of weeks ago when I visited. Sadly due to hurricane Irma having just visited we couldn't go and do the bus tour around the launch pads - did I miss much?

Yes go back! We saw the crawlers, they work alright. Also drove down the gravel crawler roads to the launch pads. Amazing experience about a month ago.

[aeropilot]

Eric Mc said:

I'd certainly be disappointed if I couldn't get a tour of the pads and the VAB.

Was there back in Oct 89, and couldn't do the tour of the pads as 'Atlantis' was sitting on one of them due to launch within a few days. We had arranged our schedule to hopefully watch it launch, but launch was delayed a day or so beforehand. We re-arranged trip/hotels etc., and shelved our planned drive down to the keys in the hope that by staying up in the Tampa - Orlando area, we could easily get over to Kennedy if the launch time was set.
Sadly, it was on a long delay, and we'd been back in the UK for 3 days before it eventually did launch on 18th Oct.....

Years later a mate of mine was over there on a business trip and was able to get to see one of the night launches - said it was one of the most amazing sights/sounds he'd ever experienced (just to rub it in!)

[Eric Mc]

Rocket launches are always prone to delays and scrubs. The Shuttle was even more prone due to all the restrictions placed on its launch criteria.