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Comment by ck2 | Hacker News Reader

Article doesn't say how far it typically has to travel.

Traveling quarter mile, no big deal. Traveling 10 miles, much more expensive.

Seems to be about 3 miles from most of the launch pads to the VAB, so about 377 gallons for a one-way trip (http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/nasafact/count3teaf.htm)

The crawler can travel about 1 MPH loaded; the tour guide at KSC (at least when I was there several years ago) made a big deal about the blazing 2 MPH it can do when unloaded. :)

The closest observation point is three miles from the launch pads, so yes, the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building; it's insanely large) is probably around three miles as well.

Why the three mile distance? Back during the Apollo program, engineers determined that if the Saturn V were to explode on the launch pad, the resulting fireball would be around four or file miles in diameter. I think it's a similar radius for the Shuttle as well.

That sounds like an impossibly huge fireball for a rocket. IIRC even nukes don't create fireballs that large. Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of energy in a rocket.

My guess is that the main threat would be an off course rocket, or debris from an explosion, and that the probability of damage is acceptably low 3 miles away.

So the fireball would still engulf the buildings? Doesn't that still seem too close?

Diameter not radius.

So 4-5 miles diameter = 2-2.5 miles radius.

3 miles away produces a 6-mile diameter safety zone.

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