Teams test the new emergency chutes from the pad 40 crew tower in Florida pic.twitter.com/rWVj7zaHp0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 19, 2024
The commercial space industry is exploding, which is something that the private space exploration firm SpaceX knows well. It takes astronaut safety seriously and wants to be able to evacuate astronauts from the launch pad in a hurry if necessary.
Two weeks ago, we saw that NASA uses armored military vehicles for this purpose. SpaceX instead uses this rapid-deployment chute that quickly carries the 40 members of a launch pad team away from the pad and to the ground. It looks like fun! Chief Operations Officer Gwynne Shotwell personally tested it.
-via Super Punch
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If this is intended to escape a potentially exploding rocket, I would hope the chute would terminate in a bunker, not the open air next to an enormous explosion.
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At 16 seconds per trip (assuming no extra time for getting out of the way, Miss C) 40 people will need 11 minutes to evacuate. A stairway might be faster.
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I'd like to see the pileup when 40 people test this thing at once.
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