🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <941@thumper.bellcore.com> karn@thumper.bellcore.com (Phil R. Karn) writes:
>> Has anyone else observed that this schedule leaves the Discovery sitting out
>> exposed to the weather for the bulk of the (often violent) Florida summer
>> thunderstorm season? What about the distinct possibility of lightning 
>> strikes to the launch complex/vehicle????
>
>Lightning is so common in central Florida that lightning protection has
>long been built into the launch pads. [...]
>
>As long as it's on the pad, the shuttle is quite safe from lightning
>hits. The tower has already withstood several hits with the shuttle on
>the pad.

I went to see the nighttime launch of Challenger a few years back, and
there was a violent (probably level-5) thunderstorm a few hours before
launch.  I have some pictures of lightning striking the top of the
tower (and the VAB, too).  According to news reports we were listening
to while we were waiting for the launch, NASA wasn't too concerned
about the lightning--they just delayed the launch around 2 hours so the
thunderstorm cell could pass and the winds die down.


-- 
Shelley Rosenbaum; AT&T Bell Labs; (201) 949-3615
{ihnp4, allegra, cbosgd}!ho95c!slr

"He's been up there for a week!  But he's coming down!"