07-February-2005, 08:45 PM
|
 |
Order of Kilopi
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Laurel, Maryland
Posts: 9,906
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by tofu
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Doodler
Added: kind of a reach, but I wonder if the location didn't also have to do with its purpose being to support moon launches, and the 'default' launch path would be favorable to the orbital alignments needed for TLI.
|
That's the *only* reason  If you launch from KSC and head due east, you're at the same inclination as the moon. At any other latitude (except the duplicate one in the southern hemisphere) a fuel expensive plane-change maneuver would be required for a trip to the moon. From KSC, you just wait for the moon to pass overhead, which it does once each day, and launch due east. Voila, you're in a parking orbit. |
Now that the dust is off the memory, didn't the moon only match that inclination a couple times a year? I do seem to recall there were certain launch windows that had to be observed.
__________________
The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.
|