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Astronomy Cast Episode 345 launch complex 39.

Welcome to Astronomy Cast, our weekly facts based journey to the cosmos will help you understand only what we know but how we know what we know.

My name is Fraser Cain, I'm the publisher of the University and with me is Dr. Pamela Gampr, professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the director of CosmoQuest. Hey Pamela, how you doing?

I'm doing well, I'm loving the fact that you and I seem to be into totally different climate zones today. I'm doing the not willing to turn on the AC yet but deeply wishing I had AC and you're clearly doing the I still need heat.

Yeah, people need to be watching us when we record this live on YouTube every Monday at noon, Pacific and then they can see our various fashion choices and yeah, it's kind of chilly here.

So, but it was really hot now. It's cold. So I don't know. How do you like a climate change now?

So, so before we get on to this week's show, just one last pitch for the CosmoQuest Hangoutathon fundraising. It's still going for a little while.

Yes, so if you go to CosmoQuest.org slash Hangoutathon, you can still contribute and the folks over at planetary resources for anyone who donates before May 18th, they're going to give the largest individual donor a stunningly gorgeous.

Slice of meteorite that has some nice crystal instructors in it and I'm really kind of thrilled and grateful for everyone out there who's contributed so far are median donation is just $30 and all of that has added up to 20 over $24,000 in science coming.

This is going to enable us to launch a new project to do citizen science studying Mars and the more donations come in the more we're able to do the more times we're able to say yes to scientists who have new and exciting citizen science projects that they just want to see go into existence so they can well discover our universe.

So please go to CosmoQuest.org slash Hangoutathon all lowercase and no amount is too small but at the same time no amount is too large go ahead pause the podcast will wait and I'm writing a handwritten thank you will hand typed thank you to everybody so.

The thank you's actually come directly from me so thank you in advance please give please please so the plan now is we're going to be doing a multi part series on numbers in space so part one today is going to be launch complex 39 how many have you thought we want to do Pemla i'm still pulling them out we do have an interruption memorial day weekend we're going to have a live episode from Balticons of any of you are in the Baltimore area and we'll be back in a few minutes.

Memorial Day weekend I hope that I can see you at the con and other than that send us ideas for sciencey things not like random places that have no science associated with the right some of these ideas so we're going to do area 51 launch complex 39 it's that sort of a theme going 42.

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8th light. So almost every historic American launch occurred at one place Cape Canaveral launch complex 39 good old LC 39 was built for the Apollo spacecraft and then modified for the space shuttle program and now it's carrying on the tradition for the upcoming space

launchers let's explore the history of this instrumental launch facility and what's cool about this is we've both been to launch complex 39 we have I was there for the launch of STS 1 2 3 and what were you there for

1 2 5 I think we both did the we've got to see one before no there's no I missed it you missed but we tried we try yeah yeah I tried I went down and I saw the space shuttle off on the horizon just the nose of it and they wouldn't even let us go out and do the tour of the shuttle because there's like high wind and stuff so so no we couldn't even I didn't even get a chance to see it so I fit yeah so I still have an actual

scene of a rocket launch so but I'm going to fix that now the space X is coming back to the Cape and watch complex 39 is going to put back into use and and so you know and I mean watch complex 39 the thing that's the most recognizable feature is the

baby the vehicle assembly building so if you see that building that's the place we're talking about and and what is so amazing about the the baby is it has doors that accommodate a Saturn 5 fully vertical being driven on a

four-story crawler through the doors and it's it's a building of a size that you can't fully comprehend until there's a helicopter right next to it.

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