Repairing a Saturn V rocket...during countdown on the launch pad
October 17, 2013 10:40 AM Subscribe
About this time, it came to my mind that during one of our training sessions we were told that one of the fully fueled prototype S11 rocket stages had been exploded out in the desert. The results showed that all buildings better be at least three miles from the launch lads - which they are. We were now within 25 feet of this 363ft tall bomb that sounded like it's giant fuse had been lit, and we were soon going to get much closer.
I would be worried about suffocation. Plumes of liquid nitrogen and oxygen... that stuff pools in low-lying areas, doesn't it?
posted by anthill at 11:10 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by anthill at 11:10 AM on October 17, 2013
This is such a great story, and a good reminder that the people in the sky weren't the only ones performing heroic feats in NASA's space program.
posted by invitapriore at 11:12 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by invitapriore at 11:12 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
antill, air is nitrogen and oxygen. Excess nitrogen displaces some oxygen, but it's mixing freely so it's not nearly the suffocation hazard of something that gets trapped at the bottom (ie: CO2) or top (hydrogen, helium) of spaces. And since nitrogen is inert, it's not like you have to worry about it binding in places where it can prevent oxygen absorption (ie: CO).
Not that the rest of that environment isn't enough to give me the heebie-jeebies, but venting nitrogen and oxygen vapor is the least of the hair-raising bits.
posted by straw at 11:17 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not that the rest of that environment isn't enough to give me the heebie-jeebies, but venting nitrogen and oxygen vapor is the least of the hair-raising bits.
posted by straw at 11:17 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
If it blows up, you'll die so fast that you won't even notice it.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
"We all wore safety helmets but they just did not make you feel like you were really safe."
I don't doubt that a bit.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:21 PM on October 17, 2013
I don't doubt that a bit.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:21 PM on October 17, 2013
We all wore safety helmets but they just did not make you feel like you were really safe.
Imagine that. I'd have thought that a couple of mm of plastic would have made you feel all snuggly considering you were working on live wires connected to a something that could flatten a 3 mile radius.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:52 PM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Imagine that. I'd have thought that a couple of mm of plastic would have made you feel all snuggly considering you were working on live wires connected to a something that could flatten a 3 mile radius.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:52 PM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm most impressed that they did the paperwork and then high-tailed it out of there. Process, eh.
posted by Devonian at 12:59 PM on October 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 12:59 PM on October 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
Having made many trips out to the Space Shuttle launch pads in my career, his hardhat comment really got me- before we stopped flying them, if you visited the pad without a Shuttle present, you wore a hardhat. It is, after all, basically a giant steel gantry/construction site, and there are lots of places to whack yourself. However, if you went out when a vehicle WAS there...well, you didn't wear a hard hat, because if it fell off your head, the Shuttle was more important than you were.
I hope we start doing stuff like that again soon so we have more stories like his.
posted by zap rowsdower at 1:33 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I hope we start doing stuff like that again soon so we have more stories like his.
posted by zap rowsdower at 1:33 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
straw: Pooling cyrogenic gasses can be *very* dangerous. Cold nitrogen can easily drive the oxygen level in an enclosed space down. That is why I'm always annoyed at my uni: They put the O2 monitors at about my face level (So 5'9" or so off the floor), so by the time they are going off, anyone shorter is already in danger. McMaster does this better, with one above head height (For liquid helium that vaporizes and fills from the top down) and one a couple of feet off the floor (For cold nitrogen gas, that fills from the bottom up)
But yes, I was filling a 10L dewer with liquid nitrogen in a fairly large room *with* a large fan going. The alarm went off, indicating the O2 level at head height had already dropped under 20% or so. As I recall, that room holds at about 21.5% normally, which means the boil off from filling a 10L dewer, with ventilation, in a not-small room can drop the O2% by 1.5%. Now, that is the only time I've had that alarm go off on me, so I bet someone had been filling before me, or the tank had been venting, but the other person there said it wasn't uncommon. (We turned the fan on high and waited out in the sun until it stopped).
Now, this was a smallish room (I suck at measurements, but could could have parked a small car in there if there was nothing else in there. A small car, but a car.) but it wasn't that much liquid nitrogen we were using; I'm sure if they were venting a ton of gasses you'd have a problem. That said, the Saturn V uses liquid oxygen (Which isn't going to drop the O2 percentage for obvious reasons), liquid hydrogen (Which if vaporized is going straight up), and RP-1, which is a liquid at room temperature (at least I assume so, being a form of Kerosene). So the danger isn't there for the Saturn V, but could be for other systems, given the crazy concentrations of gasses present inside of it. Now, these are outside, and I'd think if you had leaks large enough to matter outside you'd have other problems, but yeah, don't dismiss cryogenic gasses.
posted by Canageek at 1:57 PM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
But yes, I was filling a 10L dewer with liquid nitrogen in a fairly large room *with* a large fan going. The alarm went off, indicating the O2 level at head height had already dropped under 20% or so. As I recall, that room holds at about 21.5% normally, which means the boil off from filling a 10L dewer, with ventilation, in a not-small room can drop the O2% by 1.5%. Now, that is the only time I've had that alarm go off on me, so I bet someone had been filling before me, or the tank had been venting, but the other person there said it wasn't uncommon. (We turned the fan on high and waited out in the sun until it stopped).
Now, this was a smallish room (I suck at measurements, but could could have parked a small car in there if there was nothing else in there. A small car, but a car.) but it wasn't that much liquid nitrogen we were using; I'm sure if they were venting a ton of gasses you'd have a problem. That said, the Saturn V uses liquid oxygen (Which isn't going to drop the O2 percentage for obvious reasons), liquid hydrogen (Which if vaporized is going straight up), and RP-1, which is a liquid at room temperature (at least I assume so, being a form of Kerosene). So the danger isn't there for the Saturn V, but could be for other systems, given the crazy concentrations of gasses present inside of it. Now, these are outside, and I'd think if you had leaks large enough to matter outside you'd have other problems, but yeah, don't dismiss cryogenic gasses.
posted by Canageek at 1:57 PM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
What a great story! "Light this candle!"
Some other interesting links:
Some other interesting links:
- Apollo 4 - Wikipedia
- APOLLO 4 MISSION - 1967 NASA Educational Documentary
- Apollo 4 at NASA's National Space Science Data Center
This clip from Mishima seems oddly relevant (start at 0:19)
posted by KokuRyu at 4:33 PM on October 17, 2013
posted by KokuRyu at 4:33 PM on October 17, 2013
People take note: that is how you do a gripping mefi post introduction. And the story itself is damn good. Back in the days of America's equivalent to the pyramids.
posted by happyroach at 11:53 PM on October 17, 2013
posted by happyroach at 11:53 PM on October 17, 2013
The circumstances sound uncomfortably close to the Soviets' Nedelin disaster^, from 1960, when a missile being repaired or adjusted on the launch pad exploded, killing 74. Due to intense secrecy information about the incident took many years to reach the West, but I wonder if it would have served as an object lesson for NASA had there been a more open approach.
posted by dhartung at 4:17 AM on October 18, 2013
posted by dhartung at 4:17 AM on October 18, 2013
« Older Repetition is the death of magic. | This is everything I know: a 24 comic about comics... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Songdog at 11:02 AM on October 17, 2013