NASA has completed work on a $4.8 million "safe haven" for the Space Shuttle to protect it during a hurricane. The facility is in the high bay 2 on the west side of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida.
Two east side high bays are reserved for Space Shuttle assembly, while a fourth, adjacent to high bay 2, is used for storage and component stacking. At times in the Space Shuttle's schedule, which will support eight launches a year during International Space Station (ISS) assembly, two high bays in the VAB may be in use while another Shuttle is on the pad.
The high bay safe haven will allow NASA to move a Shuttle off the pad into the VAB in the event of a hurricane warning, while two are being processed in the VAB. Alternatively, two Shuttles could be taken off the two pads at Launch Complex (LC) 39 while one is being processed in the VAB. Three major hurricanes hit the KSC last year.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis was moved from high bay 1 into the safe haven for a fit check (pictured), making a detour en route to LC 39B for its 8 September launch to the ISS on mission STS 106.
Meanwhile, NASA is confident it can handle seven or eight Space Shuttle missions a year. Space Shuttle manager Ron Dittemore says he plans to establish a schedule of 70-80 days to process each Shuttle, down from the current 100-120 days. More technicians and mechanics have been hired and procedures improved, he says.
Source: Flight International
