The Construction of Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B
A very personal and technical written and photographic history, by James MacLaren.
Page 47: First Rotate.
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And arrive one morning before the sun to find that, overnight, with the pad deserted, with no people anywhere near the damn thing, in case, god forbid, something was to go badly wrong... the RSS had turned, and was now serenely spanning the Flame Trench at Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B for the first time...
In a way, it was anticlimactic. As if nothing at all had happened. Which of course is exactly what they wanted to happen...
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Everything from the Bearings on the Hinge Column all the way out to the Wheels on the Truck Drives did exactly what was expected of it, and most of what was expected was... nothing.
The RSS remained rock-solid motionless and in-place, silently and implacably, as if nothing had happened.
And it remained as much a feature of the landscape, fully capable of carrying the vault of the sky upon its back, as any other mountain range you might see in the distance.
But it was no longer where it had been.
For years.
Overnight, it had moved.
It's hard sometimes to listen for the unseen presence of dogs that are not barking.
It's hard sometimes to hear, and take note of the precise quality of the sound... of nothing.
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