{"id":56112,"date":"2024-06-04T23:43:43","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T21:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=56112"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:16:18","slug":"rubber-rooms-the-most-extreme-and-reserved-bunkers-at-the-kennedy-space-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/06\/04\/rubber-rooms-the-most-extreme-and-reserved-bunkers-at-the-kennedy-space-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubber Rooms, the most extreme and reserved bunkers at the Kennedy Space Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

The space race has been fraught with danger. One of the biggest risks was explosions from large space rockets.<\/p>\n

NASA's armored vehicles of military origin at the Kennedy Space Center<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe two isolated errors that saved the Columbia shuttle from a disaster in 1999<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

This risk became extreme with the Saturn V rocket<\/strong>, built by NASA for the Apollo program that took man to the Moon. These rockets had a height of 110 meters. A large part of the rocket interior was occupied by liquid fuel<\/strong>, necessary to propel it into space. If that fuel had exploded, a huge fireball of up to 500 meters in radius and more than 1,000\u00baC<\/strong> would have formed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

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Due to the large size of the Saturn V rocket launch tower, in the event of an accident it would not have been easy to evacuate the astronauts and NASA personnel<\/strong> who were on the rocket and in that tower . However, NASA created an infrastructure to try to protect their lives in the event of an accident.<\/p>\n

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Under Kennedy Space Center's two large launch pads<\/strong>, Pad 39A (which debuted in 1967) and Pad 39B (which had its first launch in 1969), NASA built bunkers underground that would have served as shelter<\/strong>for astronauts and launch tower personnel in the event of an explosion.<\/p>\n

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These bunkers, known by NASA as \"Rubbers Rooms\"<\/strong>, had a blast room with a steel dome that floated on rubber insulators. They had the capacity to house 20 people<\/strong> during a 24-hour period. The bunker had seats in a circle around a metal cage (inside which there was a ladder leading to the escape tunnel) and 20 red capsules containing fire blankets<\/strong>. There was also a toilet and carbon dioxide cleaning equipment.<\/p>\n

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The explosion room would have been closed with a large armored door<\/strong>. This door was accessed from an antechamber with rubber-padded walls, which is what gave these bunkers their name. This antechamber was accessed by a long slide that descended from the launch platform.<\/strong> This slide would have been sprayed with water to facilitate the descent of the astronauts and tower personnel.<\/p>\n

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Once the dangerous situation was overcome, the exit from this tunnel would be through a long underground tunnel more than 300 meters long<\/strong>, which led to the outer perimeter of the launch platform.<\/p>\n

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According to NASA<\/a>, once the Apollo program these shelters were abandoned, but they ended up finding other occupants:<\/strong>\"hroughout the years nature found its way inside, including raccoons, snakes, birds and even a bobcat and opossum.<\/strong>\"<\/em> Starting in 2009 and with the end of the space shuttles, a restructuring of these rooms for future use began.<\/p>\n

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The photos you can see in this article are from the Rubber Room of Pad 39B<\/strong>, which was closed more than a decade ago<\/a> because it had lead paint. In 2012, Spaceflight Now published a series of photos of the Rubber Room of Pad 39A<\/a>, which is still accessible (that platform is now used for SpaceX launches). It should be noted that very few people have visited these rooms<\/strong>, which are NASA's most extreme and secretive bunkers.<\/p>\n

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About these rooms, you can see this excellent video published by<\/strong> Primal Space<\/a> last year, which recreates them on a computer explaining how they are constructed and how they would have worked in the event of an accident:<\/p>\n