I never knew this. I'm glad I do now, as it's awesome.

OfftheRails

Registered User
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
4,644
Age
43
Spaceflight Now | Photos: The safety cavern under Apollo launch pads

In the event that the Saturn V caught fire wrongly, the astronauts would have used a zipline to get away. But what if it didn't work? And what were the pad crew supposed to do?

They'd hop into a helter-skelter kinda thing and ride it 400 feet to the rubber room, a padded cell which led to the blast escape room. 40 feet underground, encased in layers of steel, concrete, sand and springs, they'd ride out the emergency in twenty foam rubber chairs. They had food and oxygen candles for 24 hours and a chemical toilet.
 
Back
Top