Feb 10 1982
From The Space Library
The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Air Force would have to build a $40 million windscreen around its Space Shuttle launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to protect the orbiter while the external tank was being attached.
The Air Force was building a second launch complex in California to put the Shuttle into north-south or polar orbit that, combined with Earth's rotation, would carry it over the entire surface of the Earth. This would not be possible at Cape Canaveral for reasons of safety; from Vandenberg, however, the orbiter's route would be over the Pacific ocean.
Hans Mark, deputy NASA administrator, told the House Committee on Science and Technology that the windscreen would be a huge three-sided sheet of metal around the launch pad to protect the orbiter from gusts while attaching the fuel tank. Winds off the Pacific at that location averaged 9 mph year-round and up to 47 mph from January through March, more than enough to break connections between Shuttle and tank. At the Cape, mating took place inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB); Vandenberg had no such building. (W Post, Feb 10/82, A-5)
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