Getting History Off the Ground

Getting History Off the Ground. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. , No one has ever counted the number of technical challenges we needed to overcome in the infant days of America’s space program. Many of the early rockets would lift just a few feet of their launch platforms before falling back and exploding. , , As obvious as it seems now, these early failures demonstrated the need to hold the bigger rockets on the platform until the liquid fuel engines could build up enough thrust to safely lift off. , , This hold-down arm is one of eight of these devices – one under each of the Saturn 1B’s fins – that held the giant rocket in place during these critical seconds. The entire weight of the rocket was supported by the hold-down arms and secured only by the hooks (painted yellow for easy identification). , , An explosive release device in each arm electrically activated when maximum thrust was achieved. The arms served to hold the rocket in place during transport to the launch pad and in high wind conditions.