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A striking view from VAB Hi-Bay 1 of SA-500F rollout, 25 May 1966.
I like how it’s a little different from the prevalently used/seen view, this having been taken a little earlier during rollout.
"View of VAB from S. 50' tower."
An amazing view looking generally northward, through the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) Low Bay (nearest the camera), down the transfer aisle, through the cavernous temporary “breezeway” afforded by the enormity of the main structure.
Note of course the Launcher Umbilical Tower (LUT) (on its Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP)) under construction in the left background…along with the Launch Control Center (LCC) to the immediate right of the VAB, also under construction.
And finally, the framework of the squat & rarely acknowledged Utility Annex - under construction as well - is visible to the left of the VAB, partially obstructing some of the LUT MLP.
Probably the first/only time you've read anything about the Utility Annex:
www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/utility-annex-facility-upgr...
Check out the vehicles…this is mid-1964. An engineering marvel to this day.
"South 50-ft. tower"...I vaguely recall coming across some obscure documentation regarding the various towers and their locations in the MILA. For points of elevated overhead illumination? Photographic vantage points? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Interesting & pertinent read. Some of it might even be correct:
public.ksc.nasa.gov/partnerships/wp-content/uploads/sites...
“APOLLO 10 ERECTION----The first (S-1C) stage of the Saturn 505 launch vehicle being prepared for erection in the high bay area of the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building. Saturn 505 is the launch vehicle for the Apollo 10 mission.”
Okay, so this parking of “non-flight” CSM/SLA stacks - off to the side(s) - of the VAB transfer aisle, over the years, has always been somewhat confusing, to me at least, with regard to identification.
None more so than in this photograph.
I’m thinking M-11 is to the rear. If so, then what the hell is the nearer one? Further confounding matters is that - to me - the length of the foreground SM is truncated. It actually looks like the forward-most circumferential ring/panel(s) has/have been removed, thus also exposing a wider than ‘normal’ sized gap between CM & SM. What was that gap about anyhow???
Talking about SMs, they appeared to come totally sans, partially or fully equipped with RCS quads, evident here. Which configuration went with what CM??? Was there interchangeability? What determined the configuration?
HOLY COW! FANTASTIC:
www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_US/apollo/vaisseaux/...
Credit: The consistently amazing "CAPCOM ESPACE" website