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Air Force says Delta and Titan rockets survive Frances BY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: September 7, 2004 Three unmanned rockets standing on launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station escaped serious damage during Hurricane Frances, the 45th Space Wing's commander said Tuesday. "The pads as well as the boosters seem to have survived and weathered it just fine. Now the devil in the details. We are going to get down and do some more assessments," Brig. Gen. (Select) Mark Owen told reporters during an afternoon news conference. "It looks like we dodged a pretty big bullet. Frances did come along and punch us in the nose. But we are Americans and Floridians and we just get right back up and get on with business. We are going to be back up and operating as quick as we can." At pad 17B, a Boeing Delta 2 vehicle had been undergoing preparations for liftoff September 22 carrying a replacement satellite for the U.S. military's Navstar Global Positioning System constellation. Boeing's inaugural Delta 4-Heavy rocket was set for a demonstration test launch October 20 from Complex 37B. And a Lockheed Martin-built Titan 4B rocket on Complex 40 was scheduled to haul a classified National Reconnaissance Office cargo into orbit next February. It is premature to know what delays the rocket missions will incur by work stoppage and post-hurricane inspections. "We don't know what the impacts are to our launch schedule yet. We don't know what the impacts are as far as costs go," Owen said. The Air Force-controlled Eastern Range, which provides tracking, communications and safety services for all Cape launches, must be fully tested to uncover any significant problems from Frances. But the instrumentation appeared unharmed during initial inspections. "(Not) until you bring the Range up and test all of the instrumentation do you get a picture of whether the Range has been affected in a really bad way. So that is to-be-determined." Two spacecraft already delivered to Cape Canaveral for upcoming launches were placed back into their shipping containers as an extra measure of safety during the hurricane. The Global Positioning System satellite to ride that Delta 2 rocket from pad 17B and NASA's gamma-ray burst detection spacecraft, called Swift, should be unscathed, officials said. "Although we have not opened that shipping container, all of the indicators we use to measure the health of a satellite indicate that GPS satellite is just fine," Owen said. The GPS was receiving a gaseous helium purge. But despite a power outage in its launch processing facility, temperature and humidity parameters were not violated, Owen said. The Swift satellite is located in the Hangar AE cleanroom. Jim Kennedy, director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, said the spacecraft team was "90 percent certain" Swift made it through Frances without damage. But technicians won't know for sure until they reopen the shipping container. Swift had been set for liftoff in early October aboard a Delta 2 from pad 17A. That rocket has not yet been erected on the pad. On-pad assembly of the booster was put on hold in advance of Frances. One air station building that sustained damage is the Delta Maintenance and Check Out facility where two Delta 2 rockets were being prepped for eventual deliveries to the Complex 17 pads later this year for NASA and GPS missions. "The north side door was ripped off in the high winds. (The rockets) were exposed for some period of time to the elements," Owen said. The rockets, which Owen said had a plastic covering over them, don't appear harmed. "But again, we have an obligation to go and do additional inspections," he said. There were no significant problems at the Atlas launch facilities, Lockheed Martin reported on Monday. The company successfully launched its final Atlas 2AS rocket last week before Frances moved too close. No Atlas rockets are currently located at the Cape.
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The Kennedy Space Center director and 45th Space Wing commander from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station hold a news conference Tuesday to describe damage from Hurricane Frances. (46min 15sec file)
This movie takes you on a tour of hurricane damage to Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, shuttle tile manufacturing facility and press site. (3min 11sec file)
Director of the Kennedy Space Center, Jim Kennedy, briefs reporters on the initial hurricane damage inspections at the spaceport on Monday, Sept. 6. (24min 00sec file)
Workers close the payload bay doors, retract the landing gear and secure NASA's space shuttles in hangars at Kennedy Space Center to ride out Hurricane Frances. (3min 48sec file)
Modules and equipment awaiting launch to the International Space Station are covered with bags inside the processing facility at Kennedy Space Center as added protection from Hurricane Frances. (51sec file)
An external camera aboard the International Space Station captured this dramatic view of Hurricane Frances churning in the Atlantic Ocean. (4min 46sec file)
Lockheed Martin's last Atlas 2AS rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office spacecraft. (3min 59sec file)
The Atlas launch team in the Complex 36 Blockhouse celebrate the history of pad 36A in a post-launch toast. The Atlas 2AS rocket flight was the last to launch from the pad, which entered service in 1962. (2min 09sec file)
The classified NRO payload is deployed from the Centaur upper stage to successfully complete the launch. (1min 56sec file)