Underneath Launch Pad A at NASA's Cape Canaveral Launch Facility, there's a rubber room, but not one designed to protect those who are in danger of hurting themselves. This is a rubber room designed to protect men who might be in danger from an exploding rocket. I'm Amy Shiretidal, and this is a vintage space video. When the Apollo program began, engineers had to calculate what the damage of an exploding Saturn V would do. If the rocket were to explode on the Launch Pad, it would turn into a fireball 1,408 feet wide that would burn for nearly 40 seconds reaching a peak temperature of 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 1,380 degrees Celsius. There were a number of ways to get astronauts clear of an exploding rocket, namely the launch board system on top of the rocket or slide wires they could ride down to safety. There was also a slide in the base of the mobile launch platform, a 200-foot slide that delivered astronauts and crew to a room 40 feet below the rocket. The room was entirely made of rubber. A adjacent to the rubber room was a blast chamber, quite literally a bomb shelter designed to keep 20 men safe for 24 hours long enough for the air above to clear. The rubber room and blast chamber are still there, but they're not open to the public. I, however, was able to get in when I visited Cape Canaveral last November. For more on the rubber room and to see my pictures from inside, check out the links below.