Well at least they did not have to use leggers to get the rockets through the tunnels.
Christopher McDonnell "Womma Mu Kurta" Mount Barker Springs South Australia 61 8 8391 0482 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Cleaver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, 15 November 2004 1:06 AM Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] metric correction > OK - sounds like some of you know the story anyway... > > The space shuttle connection, which somebody has already said may be a bit > apocryphal, is that the diameter of the solid booster rockets was to some > extent constrained by the fact that they have to travel by railway > (standard gauge) from the manufacturer to where they are mated to the rest > of the shuttle rocket for final transport to Cape Canaveral for launch. > > The rail line passes through a number of tunnels on the way, so the > diameter of the booster rockets is set by the railway tunnel diameter. > > The "flaw" in the argument is that the diameter of the tunnel is not > necessarily directly related to the distance between the rails - however > the story goes that the horse's arse dimension has thus been carried over > to the design of the space shuttle. > > I won't be so readily drawn on the other stories. > > Cheers > > Wombat > > P.S the Stockton & Darlington railway was steam powered, whilst the > Middleton Railway, if my memory serves me right, was horse-drawn. > > > > > At 07:57 AM 12/11/2004 +1100, Derek R wrote: > >Funny that, the standard gauge railway used in Britain was based on the > >distance between the wheels of Roman Chariots: Wheel ruts on the (still > >remaining) Roman cobbled roads at the time led to wagon makers using the > >same spacing, and when the wagon makers made the first railway carriages, > >they used the same spacing of 4 feet 8 and a half inches. > >And so this thread eventually returns to the horses arse... though I will > >wait for Wombat to supply the connection with the Space Shuttle > > > > > >Incidentally for anyone interested, the Srockton and Darlington railway > >was not the first railway in the world (opened 1825): it was preceded by > >the Middleton Railway in Leeds, which was opened in 1758. > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
