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A bit from the USAF office at Vandenberg AFB on demo of SLC-4E's Titan IV tower in preparation for the Falcon Heavy/Falcon 9 "clean pad."
MAKING WAY FOR A NEW ERA : Old Titan launch pad being demolished
by 30th Space Wing (Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.) on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 6:43am
NORA K. WALLACE, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2011 5:19 AM
One of Vandenberg Air Force Base's most fabled landmarks -- an aerospace icon with a Cold War history -- is quickly disappearing from the skyline of the classified military base.
The almost half-century old Space Launch Complex 4-East, a gigantic tower on the southwest coast of Vandenberg and easily visible from throughout the Lompoc Valley, is rapidly being removed to make way for Space Exploration Technology's new Falcon Heavy, a 22-story-tall booster considered the world's most powerful private rocket.
Space Launch Complex 4-East, colloquially called "Slick-4," and its adjacent pad, SLC 4-West, were the site for scores of critical military space launches from the mid-1960s to 2005. The more than 300-foot-tall launch pad, or mobile service tower, and its adjacent 200-foot-tall umbilical tower, are quickly being dismantled by a crew of about two dozen demolition employees from Standard Industries in Ventura.
Space X is working on an accelerated schedule to ready the property for the launch of its new rocket in early 2013, said Lee Rosen, a former Air Force officer who is now the company's Vandenberg site director.
Earlier this month, crews removed the "hammerhead" of the mobile service tower -- essentially the overhang section located at the top of the inverted L-shaped building.
That really changed the skyline of Vandenberg," said Mr. Rosen, noting that when the metal section fell several hundred feet to the ground, it caused a tremor.
Some 6,000 tons -- or 12 million pounds -- of scrap metal and debris are being removed, explained Nort Colborn, site superintendent for Standard Industries. Demolition crews must break down the large steel segments into small loads that can easily be lifted into trash bins.
There is a key financial reason Space X is not simply blowing up the tower.
"What we really want to preserve are the monstrous flame ducts," Mr. Rosen said of the concrete funnels for the rocket's exhaust during lift-off. "There are hundreds of thousands of yards of concrete and rebar. If we bring the tower down explosively, it would potentially crush those flame ducts. We want to preserve those."�*
Standard Industries will sell the scrap from the towers, while Space X is endeavoring to re-use and recycle as much of the equipment as possible for use in the Falcon program.
At the remote site, the scene is akin to something out of a post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" type movie. Heavily clothed and hard-hatted men cut aerospace material with welding torches. Like peels stripped from an orange, thin slices of metal sheets plummet downward from the mid-section of the heavily-rusted pad, fluttering to land atop a jumbled stack of twisted metal, plastic and steel.
About 20 percent of the total tonnage has been removed since May, Mr. Colborn said.
"It's a time-consuming job," Mr. Colborn said, a walkie-talkie close at hand. "It's challenging in ways and different from other jobs. It's a lot more material to move and it's a lot more difficult to process."
The height of the mobile service tower -- 30 stories -- is part of the problem. The demolition company has limited access to cranes that are big enough to move the heavy steel sections or to reach to the elevation needed.
"It's considered a once-in-a-lifetime deal for many of these guys," Mr. Colborn said of the job. "Many of them are seasoned. Even for them, it's an exciting experience. They're motivated. This is a spectacular job. No doubt about it."
Space Launch Complex 4-East was built in 1961 for the military's Atlas/Agena rocket, which first flew in 1964, carrying a classified spy satellite to orbit. Later, the Air Force used the pad to boost Titan 3D, Titan 34D and Titan 4 rockets into orbit.
In all, there were 68 launches from SLC-4 East from 1964 until the final Titan 4 launch in October 2005, which drew more than 4,000 spectators.
The pad was the site of one of Vandenberg's more famous disasters -- eight seconds after liftoff on April 18, 1986, a Titan 34D exploded, destroying a spy satellite and causing widespread damage at both pads. The explosion, which sent a massive plume of toxic propellant over the area, took place just four months after the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger.
The illustrious military history is not lost on Mr. Rosen, a former Air Force colonel and commander at Cape Canaveral. He's had a number of old friends who worked on the Titan program call him, saying "Grab me some bolts, just to remember her by."
Space X allowed some local former Titan workers to visit SLC-4 before the heavy demolition began. They were given permission to walk through and take a few souvenirs. Jay Prichard, curator of Vandenberg's Space and Missile Heritage Center, was also allowed remnants.
"We were walking through some rooms. There was no power," Mr. Rosen said of a recent visit. "I could feel the ghosts of Titans past."
Still, he said, he feels a sense of optimism about the future of the launch pad. In essentially the same footprint, Space X will "get to launch the future of Air Force, NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) and commercial payloads."
Elon Musk, owner of the Hawthorne-based Space X, said recently that he plans to employ as many as 1,000 people at Vandenberg and will invest an estimated $20 to $30 million in the next two years for the Falcon Heavy program.
Mr. Musk said ongoing financial investment of $5 to $10 million will be made annually for upgrades and enhancements at the new launch pad.
"An opportunity like this doesn't come around very often," Mr. Rosen said. "I feel so lucky to be a part of a historic event. I really believe we're doing the right thing to bring a new launch capability" to the military and commercial users.
The new Falcon launch pad will not have the same physical look as the workhorse military pads. Instead, it will be more of a "launch stand," with minimal infrastructure. Work will begin in early October on a new 30,000-square-foot integration and processing hangar, which will house the Falcon while it is readied for liftoff.
Nearby, a Texas company will install a 350,000-gallon liquid oxygen tank system.
The Falcon's Launch Control Center will be housed at Vandenberg's former Health and Wellness Center, once meant to house astronauts for the scuttled West Coast space shuttle program.
As heavy fog rolled in and out of the site Tuesday, Mr. Rosen looked at the pad that should be completely gone by the end of November.
"That old tower wants to talk," he said looking skyward. "She served well, and she'll get to serve again."
by 30th Space Wing (Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.) on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 6:43am
NORA K. WALLACE, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2011 5:19 AM
One of Vandenberg Air Force Base's most fabled landmarks -- an aerospace icon with a Cold War history -- is quickly disappearing from the skyline of the classified military base.
The almost half-century old Space Launch Complex 4-East, a gigantic tower on the southwest coast of Vandenberg and easily visible from throughout the Lompoc Valley, is rapidly being removed to make way for Space Exploration Technology's new Falcon Heavy, a 22-story-tall booster considered the world's most powerful private rocket.
Space Launch Complex 4-East, colloquially called "Slick-4," and its adjacent pad, SLC 4-West, were the site for scores of critical military space launches from the mid-1960s to 2005. The more than 300-foot-tall launch pad, or mobile service tower, and its adjacent 200-foot-tall umbilical tower, are quickly being dismantled by a crew of about two dozen demolition employees from Standard Industries in Ventura.
Space X is working on an accelerated schedule to ready the property for the launch of its new rocket in early 2013, said Lee Rosen, a former Air Force officer who is now the company's Vandenberg site director.
Earlier this month, crews removed the "hammerhead" of the mobile service tower -- essentially the overhang section located at the top of the inverted L-shaped building.
That really changed the skyline of Vandenberg," said Mr. Rosen, noting that when the metal section fell several hundred feet to the ground, it caused a tremor.
Some 6,000 tons -- or 12 million pounds -- of scrap metal and debris are being removed, explained Nort Colborn, site superintendent for Standard Industries. Demolition crews must break down the large steel segments into small loads that can easily be lifted into trash bins.
There is a key financial reason Space X is not simply blowing up the tower.
"What we really want to preserve are the monstrous flame ducts," Mr. Rosen said of the concrete funnels for the rocket's exhaust during lift-off. "There are hundreds of thousands of yards of concrete and rebar. If we bring the tower down explosively, it would potentially crush those flame ducts. We want to preserve those."�*
Standard Industries will sell the scrap from the towers, while Space X is endeavoring to re-use and recycle as much of the equipment as possible for use in the Falcon program.
At the remote site, the scene is akin to something out of a post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" type movie. Heavily clothed and hard-hatted men cut aerospace material with welding torches. Like peels stripped from an orange, thin slices of metal sheets plummet downward from the mid-section of the heavily-rusted pad, fluttering to land atop a jumbled stack of twisted metal, plastic and steel.
About 20 percent of the total tonnage has been removed since May, Mr. Colborn said.
"It's a time-consuming job," Mr. Colborn said, a walkie-talkie close at hand. "It's challenging in ways and different from other jobs. It's a lot more material to move and it's a lot more difficult to process."
The height of the mobile service tower -- 30 stories -- is part of the problem. The demolition company has limited access to cranes that are big enough to move the heavy steel sections or to reach to the elevation needed.
"It's considered a once-in-a-lifetime deal for many of these guys," Mr. Colborn said of the job. "Many of them are seasoned. Even for them, it's an exciting experience. They're motivated. This is a spectacular job. No doubt about it."
Space Launch Complex 4-East was built in 1961 for the military's Atlas/Agena rocket, which first flew in 1964, carrying a classified spy satellite to orbit. Later, the Air Force used the pad to boost Titan 3D, Titan 34D and Titan 4 rockets into orbit.
In all, there were 68 launches from SLC-4 East from 1964 until the final Titan 4 launch in October 2005, which drew more than 4,000 spectators.
The pad was the site of one of Vandenberg's more famous disasters -- eight seconds after liftoff on April 18, 1986, a Titan 34D exploded, destroying a spy satellite and causing widespread damage at both pads. The explosion, which sent a massive plume of toxic propellant over the area, took place just four months after the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger.
The illustrious military history is not lost on Mr. Rosen, a former Air Force colonel and commander at Cape Canaveral. He's had a number of old friends who worked on the Titan program call him, saying "Grab me some bolts, just to remember her by."
Space X allowed some local former Titan workers to visit SLC-4 before the heavy demolition began. They were given permission to walk through and take a few souvenirs. Jay Prichard, curator of Vandenberg's Space and Missile Heritage Center, was also allowed remnants.
"We were walking through some rooms. There was no power," Mr. Rosen said of a recent visit. "I could feel the ghosts of Titans past."
Still, he said, he feels a sense of optimism about the future of the launch pad. In essentially the same footprint, Space X will "get to launch the future of Air Force, NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) and commercial payloads."
Elon Musk, owner of the Hawthorne-based Space X, said recently that he plans to employ as many as 1,000 people at Vandenberg and will invest an estimated $20 to $30 million in the next two years for the Falcon Heavy program.
Mr. Musk said ongoing financial investment of $5 to $10 million will be made annually for upgrades and enhancements at the new launch pad.
"An opportunity like this doesn't come around very often," Mr. Rosen said. "I feel so lucky to be a part of a historic event. I really believe we're doing the right thing to bring a new launch capability" to the military and commercial users.
The new Falcon launch pad will not have the same physical look as the workhorse military pads. Instead, it will be more of a "launch stand," with minimal infrastructure. Work will begin in early October on a new 30,000-square-foot integration and processing hangar, which will house the Falcon while it is readied for liftoff.
Nearby, a Texas company will install a 350,000-gallon liquid oxygen tank system.
The Falcon's Launch Control Center will be housed at Vandenberg's former Health and Wellness Center, once meant to house astronauts for the scuttled West Coast space shuttle program.
As heavy fog rolled in and out of the site Tuesday, Mr. Rosen looked at the pad that should be completely gone by the end of November.
"That old tower wants to talk," he said looking skyward. "She served well, and she'll get to serve again."