If you ’re on top of a launch tower and something give way wrong with your roquette , you ’re going to want to get away pretty speedily .
With that in mind , Boeing and the United Launch Alliance ( ULA ) have unveiled theirEmergency Egress System(EES ) , a zip line for astronauts to escape from a launch tugboat in the shell of an emergency brake .
This is intend for forthcoming launching of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner , which will fly atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral ’s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida . Launches are schedule to begin next year .
Four naught production line have been installed , which will take people from the top of the pad 52 meters ( 172 base ) up to a gunpoint on the flat coat 410 m ( 1,340 feet ) away in 30 seconds , at speed of up to 64 klick / h ( 40 mph ) . There will be 20 seats on the EES , which supports the crew of up to seven and any other personnel still on the launching column .
Neow . ViaYouTube / collectSpace
The idea of using zip lines is not wholly new . The Shuttle used aslide wire basket organisation , while Apollo had similar zip blood line . None were ever used in an parking brake , though . “ The systems have never been want in an emergency , but are required in case a condition educate before launch that interdict those on the column from taking the elevator down to rubber , ” NASA noted in astatement .
Boeing ’s ancestry are fit with specially designed seats that can keep astronauts in bulky spacesuits . Handles can be used to control the speed as well .
It should be noted this is unlike to a Launch Abort System , thrusters used to catapult the crowd capsule rapidly off from the rocket in the case of a major emergency brake , like an at hand explosion . The EES would be used in the minute go up to the launch .
Boeing is develop the Starliner alongside SpaceX ’s Dragon capsule for utilisation by NASA to transport astronauts to the International Space Station ( ISS ) . Both are expected to fly for the first clock time next year without a gang , with crewed launches to come after .
But it ’s good to know that , if an accident does occur prior to those manned launches , there ’s an effective – and fun – means to get the crew to rubber .
