SpaceX begins major mods to LC-39A in leadup to first Falcon Heavy flights

The gaseous oxygen vent arm or "beanie cap" at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A. Photo Credit: NASA

Jason Rhian

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX ) has begun making changes to historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), the site where Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission, and numerous other crewed flights got their start. These include many Space Shuttle missions, including the very first flight of one of the orbiters, STS-1 – with shuttle Columbia. A key element required to launch the shuttles was the gaseous oxygen vent arm with its “beanie cap.” SpaceFlight Insider noted that this historic piece of equipment had been removed and was lying at the base of LC-39A. What will happen to this and other historic artifacts once they are removed?

SpaceX signed a 20-year lease for LC-39A on April 14, 2014. Long time followers of the shuttle program have expressed concern that historic artifacts such as the “beanie cap” – are preserved. SpaceFlight Insider spoke with NASA’s Tracy Young about what would happen to the beanie cap. According to Young, NASA will maintain this and other historic elements removed from LC-39A at the space agency’s Ransom Road location.

“Ransom Road is where surplus items are taken, the shuttles’ payload canister went there,” Young said. “It does not seem like the beanie cap’s move is imminent, that it won’t be moved right away.”

According to Young, these elements will then be made available to museums and other institutions. Much as the case of the three remaining space shuttles themselves, which were retired in 2011, these entities will have to pay the expenses involved with acquiring these items. Young was unsure if the sections of LC-39A would be in a covered location during their storage.

The gaseous vent arm was affixed to Launch Complex 39 (A and B) between the 207-foot and 227-foot levels. The vent hood assembly was a retractable arm measuring some 56 feet in length. The “beanie cap” the conical structure at the end of the arm, was attached to the top of the space shuttle’s External Tank or “ET.”

During the lead up to the launch of the 135 space shuttle flights, heated gaseous nitrogen was pumped into the beanie cap. This would then warm the liquid oxygen within the ET. This process prevents oxygen vapor, which escapes the ET via vent louvers that are at the top of the ET (the black “cap” at the top of the ET) from causing any harm through ice damage.

The vent arm was moved out of the orbiter’s path a mere two-and-a-half minutes prior to lift off. The arm and “beanie cap” would then retract to the side of LC-39A’s fixed service structure about a minute and 45 seconds before the shuttle launched.

SpaceX initially stated that the heavy version of the Falcon 9 booster would be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base located in California. However, these plans have apparently changed as SpaceX now states that the first launch of the Falcon Heavy will take place from LC-39A in 2015. SpaceX informed SpaceFlight Insider that the company and the Space Agency have a system in place that details who is responsible for these items.

“There were a few historically significant items identified in the lease including the beanie cap—those items are all being preserved by NASA,” said SpaceX’s John Taylor.

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