There and back again: NASA's mobile launcher returns to testing after ducking out for Dorian NASA's enormous mobile launcher is back at Pad 39B after worried engineers stashed it in the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to ride out Hurricane Dorian. Engineers had been testing the platform on the pad ahead of an eventual mission and verifying everything works except for, you know, actually standing the rocket …
... it's the tornadoes that are spawned around hurricanes that are a major problem. A simple wall-stud from a busted up house turns into an armor piercing projectile in a tornado. I've personally seen a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood stuck six feet up, through the trunk of a 2.5 foot diameter palm tree, with about 20% sticking out the other side. Some wag had painted a pirate flag on it. There are pictures of a standard phonograph record embedded in a telephone pole.
That kind of crap mostly went away decades ago. Today, housing needs to be built according to local building code or you don't get a Certificate of Occupancy. This is true in all 50 states and DC.
Yes, it is true there are still shysters out there, but they are the (very rare) exception rather than the rule.
Thanks! I guess I should bookmark your post... scary thing is: I can totally imagine the length of a cricket pitch, but did not know that this was one chain long. And I was more than "a bit" confused....
(confusion arises because of the chain gang in American football, their "chain" is 10 yards long, or should we say: short - but then the 22 yards is the surveyors' chain).
You make sure the frame is strong enough to withstand the likely wind forces (easy-ish to calculate), make the siding/skin strong enough to withstand those wind load and that all holes and vents can be plugged up to prevent over-pressure inside the building. Then you remove anything in the vicinity that could be turned into a wind blown projectile. After that the steps should be easy: Cross your fingers, pray to whatever deity you prefer and hope for the best.
<https://www.nasa.gov/content/mobile-launcher> states that the tower is 40 feet square - being 1600 square feet. That's about 12m square or 144 square metres.
You can see the scale of it in this picture. There are high-vis and hard-hatted people standing next to the cab on the left hand side to give a good idea of its size:
<https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ksc-20180531-mobilelauncher_0.jpg>
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