Historic Cape Canaveral tower toppled

Air Force Link ^ | 10 Aug 2005 | Air Force News

[JRios1968]

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. (AFPN) -- What took years to build required only seconds to knock down Aug. 6 when 171 pounds of strategically placed explosives toppled a historic 179-foot mobile service tower here.

The 1,300-ton structure was used to launch 51 Atlas/Agena space vehicles in the 1960s and 1970s. The most famous of those launches were five Lunar Orbiter missions for NASA in 1966 and 1967. Those missions photographed about 99 percent of the moon’s surface and helped pave the way for men landing on the moon in 1969.

The last launch from the complex was in April 1978 and then the pad was abandoned. Mother Nature then whittled away at the complex and the old tower, leaving a badly corroded structure in its wake.

[JRios1968]

A historic piece of the space program is removed, due to years of neglect.

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- A 1,300-ton structure here is demolished Aug. 6. The 179-foot mobile service tower was used to launch 51 Atlas/Agena space launch vehicles in the 1960s and 1970s. (U.S. Air Force photo)

[Cincinatus]

A historic piece of the space program is removed, due to years of neglect.

Do you propose money be spent to maintain an unused facility?

[JRios1968]

Not at all. Just chronicling the wastefulness inherent in letting a facility sit unused for 26+ years, instead of refurbishing and re-using it when they had a chance (in 1978.) Of course, we do know who was running things back in 1978...

[Cincinatus]

Well, there are dozens of launch pads at the Cape, many dating from the 1950's. They are not refurbished for re-use because it would cost more to do that than to build all new facilities for new rocket systems elsewhere.

These decisions are made strictly on a cost basis, not to wantonly destroy landmarks of historical significance.

[ARCADIA]

Do you propose money be spent to maintain an unused facility?

Didn't we just approve a $300,000,000.00 spending package for the beautification of California's highways? With all the pork in DC you would figure that preserving a key historical site would have been worth the cost of a couple of coats of paint.

[JRios1968]

Exactly. Not only that, this pad, along with many others, could have easily been recycled (refurbished?) for possible use in modern-day or future space projects. Instead, it was allowed to sit, rotting away for 26 years before someone decided "hey, let's bring it down."