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Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the time-to-upgrade dept.

pumpkinpuss writes "Launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center suffered unusual damage during the shuttle Discovery's blastoff Saturday. Pictures from a NASA source show buckled concrete and numerous concrete blocks or bricks, presumably from the flame trench, littering a road behind the pad."

4 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Re:anyone know? by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "42"
    Sad thing is, I can't tell if this is a serious answer or a joke, and thus I don't know anything more than I did before the response was given...
    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  2. Re:how? by p0tat03 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thermal cycling. Cracks can occur in many structural materials while *cooling*, not while heating. Next time try heating a piece of glassware to an unholy temperature, and then dropping it into an ice water bath.

  3. Not too surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Disregard the age of the pad; This mission was the heaviest for the shuttle. It was taken all the way to the max. Basically, this one took longer to take off, chewing away at the pad that was designed and built LONG ago to handle such loads.

  4. Re:anyone know? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Make a funny joke on /.
    2. Make a post explaining that it was a joke
    3. Get mod'ed as Informative
    4. Get Karma
    5. ???
    6. Profit!