[Boatanchors] Space Shuttle (OT, kinda)

[Steve Byan]

On Jul 12, 2011, at 7:59 AM, J. Forster wrote:

> I'm not so sure the SRBs could have been built in one piece. They are huge.

From the Google cache of the late Encyclopedia Astronautica entry on the AJ-260:
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AM9WEYPLTnQJ:www.astronautix.com/engines/aj2602.htm>

> Aerojet mothballed the Florida facility and waited for the US government to come to its senses. After the Challenger and Titan 3 disasters with segmented motors it was thought that NASA or USAF would finally turn to safer monolithic designs. But it was not to be, and Aerojet finally sold the facility in 1992.

From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerojet#Florida_facility_and_canal>:

> In the 1960s, Aerojet solid fuel technology was under consideration for use in Saturn first stages. A monolithic, 21-foot-diameter (6.4 m) motor was designed, which was too big to be transported by rail. A facility was constructed in the Florida Everglades where the motors could be built and tested, and then barged to Cape Canaveral. A canal was dug (C-111), the southernmost freshwater canal in Southeast Florida, and a drawbridge was installed for the U.S. Highway 1 crossing at mile marker 116. The canal was dubbed the "Aerojet Canal". SW 232nd Avenue was renamed "Aerojet Road". When the Aerojet product was not selected for the Saturn project, and segmented boosters were chosen for the Space Shuttle, the land and facilities were returned to the state, and are now managed by the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a nature preserve. The Aerojet signage still remains for both the road and canal and most of the facility's buildings remain intact, although weather-damaged.

See also "THE 260 - THE LARGEST SOLID ROCKET MOTOR EVER TESTED":
<http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20000033816_2000043549.pdf>

and "Everglades Moon Rockets":
<http://www.someplacelse.net/Everglades_Moon_Rockets_XHC.html>

Best regards,
-Steve

-- 
Steve Byan <stevebyan at me.com>
Littleton, MA 01460