Launch Complex 37 Facilities

8/6/2019 Launch Complex 37 Facilities

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K E N N E D Y S P A C E C E N T E R , F L O R I D AA N D S P A C E A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

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K S C IUniversiiy of AijL;ma R E S C R ~ C ~qstitcte M A R C H 1968History of Science c5 Tcc!~nology Group

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SATURN PROG R A M H I S TO RYA N D O B JE C TI VE S

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S a t u r n I, S a t u r n IB a n d S a t u r n V are thelaunch vehicles of the Apollo program which hasas i t s major goa l the l and ing o f as t ronau ts on th em o o n a n d r e tu r n i n g t h e m s af el y t o e a r t h .

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F A C I L I T I E S

Under the direct ion of the Office of MannedSpace Fl ight , NASA, the Apollo program is ajoint ' responsibi l i ty of the Manned Spacecraf tCenter, Houston, Texas; Marshal l Space Fl ightCente r, Huntsv i ll e , Alabama; and Kennedy SpaceCenter, Flor ida.

Development of Saturn launch vehicles isdirected by the Marshall Space Fl ight Center. Th eManned Spacecraf t Center oversees developmentof the Apollo spacecraf t systems and manages as-t ro na uts selection and t raining.

. --- DOC. O. --------Kennedy Space Cente r cond uc ts NASAlaunch operat ions. KSC provides the launch facil -

ities and is responsible for receiving, inspecting,assembling, preflight testing and launch ing Apo llo/Satu rn space vehicles.

Th e f i rst f l ight of the ful ly configured SaturnI space vehicle from Complex 37 occur red Janu-ary 29, 1964, establ ishing a num ber o f milestonesin the nat ional space program. I t was the f irs ttime the booster engines were used at full-ratedthrust; the first flight of the live hydrogen-filledsecond stage; and the f i rs t f l ight of th e instru men tunit. The vehicle placed 38,700 pounds in ea r th

orb i t .T h e S a t u r n I ser ies was completed with the

successful launches of five more vehicles fromC o m p l e x 37 , thre e of w hich placed Pegasus micro-meteoroid detect ion satel l ites in orb i t .

Aerial view of Launch Complex 37 shows the rail-moun ted service structure positioned at launch Pad B t o the right. Pad A is to the left.Igloo-shaped building in the foreground is launch control center.


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bil ical towe r which lead to ground-based pow er,air condi t ioning, hydraulic , p neuma tic , fuel , meas-ur ing and com man d sys tems .

A t the 228-foot level of the umbilical tow eris the A pollo spacecraf t access arm w hich is a t -t ached to the env i ronmenta l chamber, o r "whi teroom ." Th e umbilical tower elevator provides a

fast means of egress , designed to oper ate inei ther a norm al or emergency mode. I t is capa-b le o f ca r rying 3 ,000 pounds a t 450 fee t pe rm i n u t e .

Mounted on the umbi l i ca l tower i s a boomhoist capable of lifting 2-112 tons, equipped witha t ro l ley tha t ex tends the hook 27 fee t f rom theboom pivot .

Located at the base of the umbil ical tower isan au tomat ic g round con t ro l s t a t ion tha t con ta insd ig it a l compu te rs and checkout equ ipment . I ta lso serves as a dis t r ibut ion point for cables , pro-

A 9 2 0 3 during countdown demonstration shows the swing armsleading from the umbilical tower to the vehicle. Flame deflec toris visible under the launch pedestal.

vides space for vehicle tes t power equip men t andserves as a distribution point fo r all high-pressuregases . Th e s ta t ion occupies 16,88 4 square feet ofspace at fou r levels.

Th e RP-I facil i ty s tores and t ransfers fuel tothe launch vehicle's first stage. The remote lytrol center. The s torage tank is 67 feet long and

12 feet in diameter . It has a 43,500-gallon capa-c i ty ; a fast-fill transfer rate of 2,0 00 gallons percontrolled, a u t o m a t i c / s e ~ n i a u t o m a t i cystem con-sis ts of eq uipment located a t the s torage faci l i ty,automatic ground control s ta t ion and launch con-min ute a nd a slow-fill rate of 200 gallons perminu te .

Liquid oxygen is stored and transferred at-297' F. Th e liquid o xygen facilities store andtransfer LOX to the vehicle's first and secondstages during fill and replenish operations. Amain tank and a s torage tank are provided.

Liquid oxyg en service facility

The main tank is a double-walled sphere in-sulated with perlite and pressurized with gaseousni trogen. I t measures 42 feet in diameter and hasa 1 25,000-gallon capacity.

Th e replenish ta nk is a vacuum-and perlite in-sulated double-walled cyl inder that is 62 fee t longand 11 feet in diameter, with a 28,000-gal loncapaci ty.

Liquid oxy gen is transferred to the first stagea t the ra te o f 2 ,500 ga llons per minu te ; secondstage transfer rate is 1,0 00 gallons per m inute .


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Service Structure


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Liquid hydrogen i s s to red and t rans fe r reda t - 4 2 3 0 F. T h e f u e l i s s u p p l i e d t o t h e s e c o n ds tage of th e Sa turn IB veh ic le by the remo te lycont ro l led , au tomat ic / semiau tom at ic l iqu id h ydrogen sy stem , which consis ts of the s torage facil -i ty, t rans fe r l ine and cont ro l equ ipmen t . The1 25,000-gal lon s torage tank is a double-walled,vacuum-and-perl i te insulated sphere 39 feet in di-ameter.

Th e conve rter-compressor faci l ity serves bo thL a u n c h C o m p l e x 34 a nd 37 as the sou rce of a l lgaseous n i t rogen and he lium requi red to checkou t , se rv ice and launch upra ted Sa turnI vehicles.

Storage for l iquid ni t rogen is provided by a125,000-gal lon, double-walled spherical tank , anda 35,000-gal lon tank. Liquid ni t rogen is convert-ed t o gaseous n i t rogen by mean s of four h igh-pressure vaporizers and two low-pressure vapor-izers . Th e ni t rogen from the high-pressure vapor-izers is t ransferred to gaseous ni t rogen s torage

cyl ind ers (bat ter ies) . Fo ur 200-cubic foo t ves-sels and s ix clusters of nine vessels each (200cubic fee t per c lus te r ) a re mani fo lded toge ther to

form the n i t rogen ba t te ry.Helium is compressed by m eans of three sepa-

rate four-s tage compressors , and is s tored in thchelium battery which consists of six clusters ofvessels (20 0 cubic feet per c luster) each manifold-ed together. Both the ni t rogen and hel ium bat-ter ies supply gas at a pressure of 6 , 00 0 poun dsper square inch and contain filters, dryers, relief

valves and shu toff valves.A high-pressure hyd rogen bat tery supplies hy-

drogen gas for the second stage of the launch ve-hicle . Th e bat tery consis ts of tw o cyl indrical gas-eo us hyd rogen vessels capa ble of delivering a max-imum pressure o f 6 ,0 00 pou nds per square inch .

S E RV I C E S T R U C T U R E

Th e 5,200-ton service s t ructure atLC-37 pro-vides for ver t ical erect ion, assembly and check-ou t o f Sa turn IB veh ic les. I t con ta ins workplatforms for personnel , cranes for l i f t ing rocket

s tages and spacecraf t in to place on th e launchpedestal , and provides protect ion from the weath-er for bo th th e space vehicle a nd personnel .

Liquid hydrogen sew ce facilities.


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The self-propelled service structure is mount-ed on four t rucks that r ide on rai ls , and is dr ivenby four 100-horsepower electr ic motors . Th etrapezoidal s t ructure is of r igid- truss con struct ionand e x tend s to a he igh t o f 30 0 fee t . Th e base ofthe service s t ruc tures measures 120 feet square.

There are four elevators in the service s t ruc-tu re and a min imum of 10 work p la t fo rms a tvarious levels. Each e levator has a 3,000-poundcapaci ty. Access to the service platform s is f romindividually adjus ted platfor m landings. Weathe rprotec t ion is provided by a hurr icane cu rtain a-round the launch pedes ta l which ex tendsfromthe 35-foot level to the 65-foot level, and split"silo" enclosures tha t reach to the 24 8-foo t level.

At the launch p ad, supp ort points l if t the ser-v ice s t ruc ture f rom the t rucks and anchor i t tothe ground . Before the Sa turn IB i s l aunched , theservice s t ructure moves to i ts parking posi t ion atthe op pos i te pad.

L A U N C H C O NT R O L C E N T E R

Personne l, ins t rumenta t ion and cont ro l equ ip-ment connec ted wi th checkout and launch ac t iv -i t i es a re housed in the l aunch cont ro l cen te r,which also provides blast protect ion in the event

Service structure silos enclose portiorl of spa ce vehicle at launch pad of a launch "chicle explosibn.during test and chec kou t opera tions. Umbilical tower is to the right. Th e launch cont ro l c en te r is a two-s tory,

Exterior view Launch Control Center


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dome-shaped building located appro ximate ly Th e f i rs t f loor is used by personnel involved1,2 00 feet f rom the launch pad. Th e dom e, con- in t racking, te lemetry , and closed-circui t te levis ionstru cted of reinforced concrete , var ies in thick- commu nicat ions. Laun ch con trol and variousness from 7 fee t a t the top to 41 fee t a t the base. moni to r ing record ing conso les a re loca ted on theT h e inter ior is sprayed with a ?- inch coat of second f loor.acoust ical mater ial . Th e building contain s 20 ,96 8square feet of space and is designed to withstand

SUPPORT BUI LDINGS

blast pressures of 2 ,18 8 poun ds per square inch. The 102- foo t by 40- foo t opera t ions suppor t

Engineers and technicians at consoles of' launch co ntrol center co nduc t prelaunclz coun tdow n procedures prior to launch of' Sa tu rn ZB.


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bui ld ing , loca ted ad jacen t to the l aunch cont ro lcen te r, p rov ides 5 ,60 0 square fee t o f space a ttwo levels for cr i t ical spare parts s torage, mech-an ica l equ ipm ent a nd personne l work a reas .

Th e spare par t s s to rage bu ild ing a t Complex37 provides 6,000 square feet of enclosed s toragespace an d 2 ,000 square fee t o f ou ts ide s to rage forequip me nt assoc iated w i th l aunch opera t ions . Thebui ld ing i s 1 62 fee t long and 42 fee t wide .

COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

Comple te ly f l ex ib le in te rcommunica t ions ,closed-circui t te levis ion, t iming dis tr ibut ion andpaging system s exis t b etween all ope rat iona l areas .

The in te rcom sys tem i s a two-wire sys tem

comp atible with oth er on-si te systems. Variouscont ro l s ta t ion pane ls are t ied in w i th the Eas te rnTest Range; external t ie- ins are also provided withlaunch-associated agencies including the MissionCont ro l Ce nte r, Hous ton , Texas ; wor ldwide t rack-ing netw ork, Go ddard Space Fl ight Cente r, Green-bel t Maryland ; and NASA Headq uarters , Wash-ington, D. C.

The closed-circuit television system containsmoni tors and cameras which have a comple te massswi tch ing capabi li ty f rom the launch co nt ro l cen-ter. Nu mero us views of prelaunch activi ties inthe vicinity of th e com plex can be selected. Dis-t r ibu t ion of l aunch co untdo wn informat ion i s ac-compl i shed f rom th- l aunch con t ro l cen te r a f te rgenera tion by range supp or t opera t ions .

Site Plan, Complex 37.

Documents

Launch Complex 37 Facilities