+Gepard 11,300 Posted July 8, 2011 Lift off for Space Shuttle Atlantis. Good luck and good landing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted July 8, 2011 Wasn't that great to watch from the ground. Stupid clouds covered it after about 30 seconds, just like the previous one. Oh well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+ST0RM 145 Posted July 14, 2011 Wasn't that great to watch from the ground. Stupid clouds covered it after about 30 seconds, just like the previous one. Oh well. I agree about the clouds. With Florida's crappy weather, I often wonder why Vandenburg was never upgraded to launch the Shuttle. How many delays or how much damage have been caused by storms? SoCal weather is much better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted July 14, 2011 Polar launches aren't very useful for most things. I think the populations of CA and NV would also object to boosters being dropped on them. Due to the Earth's rotation, it's most useful to launch to the east, over water. The ideal location is on the equator, and that's what Sea Launch does, sailing out to the middle of the Pacific at 0 latitude to launch rockets and get max payload for the minimum thrust. As for storm damage, not much. It's all built to take hurricanes, so only tornados do anything. There have been numerous delays due to weather, but more due to over-cautiousness than anything else. If the shuttle had to abort back to KSC (something that was considered highly dangerous if necessary), the winds at the SLF couldn't be past a certain amount cross-wind (I don't recall the number). If a rocket explodes at low altitude (a few thousand feet) when the wind off the ocean is blowing a certain way and colliding with wind blowing from the west overland (which causes the storms on the east coast regularly, oddly it doesn't really happen on the west coast) there is risk of a cloud of deadly chemicals blowing over Merritt Island and killing thousands. On the flip side, I'd hate to see an earthquake hit as a launch was just prepping when all the gantries have swung back! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Gepard 11,300 Posted July 17, 2011 As closer you are to the equator you can bring larger payloads into the orbit. The Soyuz carrier can lift 7 tons from Baikonour, but when they will start it from Kourou (european Ariana launch base in french Guyana) the can bring more then 8 tons into the sky. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
