NASA to build 3rd Tallest Rollercoaster.

I'm not being rude, in fact that was nicer than some people are ever on forums by the way I forgot to mention, Welcome to the Forums. Sorry I was also a little snippy. Also Orion is the name of something in the project not the name of the ride, although I still like the water slide idea. They can market that, Worlds Tallest Waterslide.

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SONiC Senshi said:
By the way did anyone notice that at 380 feet, it would be the fifth tallest coaster not the thrid? ^_^

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Obviously NASA considers Superman The escape to be a roller coaster because their's is not full circuit either and they call it a coaster. NASA probably is basing that record of height on the max height the train travels not the height of the structure.

I think it would have made more sense if the drop went underground b/c that way the train would leave the danger zone faster. Heck the track could go straight down until the tunnel came. The radius of the pullout wouldn't have to be that great b/c only trained astrounats who already have space suits on will descend it. If you look at the radius of the arc now it's obvious that the g-forces will greatly exceed anything an amusement park has to offer.

Either way, it'd be one sick drop!

I don't think it's just for astronauts but for any technicians working on the Orion as well. Getting underground quickly sounds like a good idea given that Orion's first stage is a taller version of the Shuttle's solid rocket booster and bad things happen when solid rocket motors explode.

I wonder why they call it a 'coaster' in the first place. After all, it's just an emergency-exit system, right?
But on the other hand, this is the stuff that teenage SciFi-fantasies are made of - it's always good to see some dreams come to life.
Now, the next things that happens is that someone needs to include it in a movie with an explosion cloud chasing the escape pod.
:)

Well, because technically it IS a coaster.

...might be a translation problem then.
I thought a 'coaster' would be an amusement ride- which this one clearly isn't :)
For sure, it isn't an 'Achterbahn' (figure-8-railway)
:)))

Copying into here as per Moderator Jeff request to keep it all in same thread.

Some people don't know the roller coaster you have in this thread here on the NASA roller coaster for Ares I at KSC, has been changed.

Basically, NASASpaceflight.com published an exclusive on the first version a year ago here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=4888 and some other media like Popsi and USA Today used that NSF story.

Then, just the other week, nasa.gov released that news and other media published it as new news. But it's not

It's changed again after the 5G pullout was scrapped.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5248

"The Rollercoaster Emergency Escape System (EES) will now be a fixed, permanent structure at launch pad 39B, after undergoing a redesign to reduce the G-Forces on personnel escaping the pad.

"A brainstorming meeting between NASA, the contractor RS&H, and Disney concluded with a new design to the coaster, approved ahead of the start of construction next year.

"The previous concept, exclusively revealed by NASASpaceFlight.com over a year ago, has only just recently started to gain media attention from some of the other space news sites after NASA.gov released an image and a short write up last week. However, that design, which was produced on September, 2006, has now been scrapped. "

Rest of the story on that link.

I know the engineer in charge of the current launch tower escape system (slidewire baskets). He works for United Space Alliance in Shuttle Ground Systems operations. They test the slidewires once a year, and he gets to ride off the tower in the basket. If his responsibilities don't change before Ares, he might be one of the first/few to get this "coaster" credit.

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Apparently Cory doesn't know that Sikorsky is building the new "Marine One" helicopters for the President.

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You're right, I didn't know that, but I know who's working on this project...