Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-03-04
COMPLEX 80
54o-Foot7High Building Designed
10 Hold 4 Huge Moon Rockets

: to make a good base for foun-
dation footings. Then the sur
charge is cleared away to grade
! level and construction begins.
The first surcharging opera
ton at Complex SO began last
November. A great pile of dirt
about a city block In extent
grew until 1t was IS feet high.
Three months later. pouring of
footings began. BY the middle of
this year a 470-foot-long build
ing will have taken shape, It's
high-bay area having l04 feet
| OF headroom. This viii be the
first building to be occupied,
and will house astronauts' pre-
launch living quarters as well
as assembly and checkout facil-
tiles for the three-man Apollo
spacecraft and the smaller
bug" which will actually take
two men to lunar touchdown.
Surcharging suffices for the
foundation surface of ordinary
structures. But where very
heavy loads are to be borne on
made" land, a process called
"vibraflotation" compacts SUBJ
surface sand to the consistency
OF concrete. forming great pill
lars below ground that sustain
tremendous weights.
The first checkout of Com
pick 80 is expected in 1865, with
its initial test launching hope
fully scheduled for late that
same year. Saturn " flights
with live upper stages and real
payloads probably viii begin in
1866, and the entire complex is
expected to be ready for moon
launches about 1867 - even
though the moon rocket may
not be.
When completed, Complex 80
will be used in this way:
Barges carrying Saturn
Sic first stages from the
manufacturing and test areas
near New Orleans will come up
the barge canal to an unload
ing basin near the VAB.
These stages. five-engine rock
cts 80 feet in diameter and 1873
feet long, will be transferred
to special trailer trucks and
hauled into a side door of the
VAB. Normally this viii take
place about three months be-
fore a scheduled launching.
Shielded From Elements
Erection and complete check
out of the multi-stage Saturn
v, $50 feet tall and weighing
500 tons unfueled, will take
place on the hdgh-bay side of 4
the VAB, safe from wind, mois-
ture and the corrosive effects
of sea spray.
For Complex 80, a combina-
ton launching platform and
gantry, called a lanuch umbil-
ical tower, or 'LUT" has been
devised. This 5,O00-ton struc-
! ture Of steel, half as big IN
i area as a football field and
topped by a 450-foot tower, will
be set in place inside the VABI
before the first stage rocket ar
rives. The l40-ton stage will be
placed on the LUT and other
stages built onto it. The Apollo
spacecraft and associated hard
ware will be brought up from
the industrial area and assem-
bled to the rocket.
After complete checkout of
the Saturn v and spacecraft,
a tractor-like prime mover
called a crawler win creep slowly
into the assembly building, pick
up the LUT platform and the
rocket on its back, and roll
smoothly out across the access
roadway toward one Of the
launching pads at a speed of / |
mile an hour.
Part way to the pad, another
tall structure carried by al
crawler will join the procession.
This is called the arming tower,
which carries an assortment of
solid fueled rockets, explosive
charges and other pyrotechnics
essential for the mission. These
will be affixed to the rocket at
the pad. after which the arming
tower will be withdrawn. The
LUT platform win stay on the
pad, and the rocket win be fired
from it.
Once the LUT has reached
the pad. final checkout and
fueling can begin. Almost 5000
tons Of kerosene. liquid oxygen
and liquid hydrogen win go into
the propellant tanks OF e.
Saturn v moon rocket. The
largest cold-storage fuel con-
tanners ever built-up TO 900 900
gallons capacity-will supply
oxygen and hydrogen at hun
dreds Of degrees below zero to
the rockets tanks.
Railroad To Build Spur
The tremendous amounts of
fuel and other supplies needed
at Complex 80 dictated con-
struction Of the first railroad
ever to enter the Cape Canav-
eral area. Up to now the rocket
center has been served by barge
and truck mostly truck. The
Florida East Coast Railroad has
agreed TO build a spur on a
causeway across the Indian
River from Titusville TO Mer-
rift Island, where a i000-car
freight yard will be established
at a crossroads called Wilson.
NASA viii build its own track
age from Wilson TO the VAB.
the industrial area. and the
three launching pads.