I witnessed my first rocket launches in 1965 while assigned as a firefighter at Eglin AFB, Florida. The launch site was on Santa Rosa Island about 15 miles from our fire station near Fort Walton Beach. Some of them were to test air-to-ground missiles, others were to support the Apollo Space program, which would eventually place astronauts on the moon.

I was in my early 20s and had never seen a rocket launch, so this was exciting until one of the two-stage launch vehicles separated prematurely about 200 feet after it launched.

Our standby location was at the “block house,” a couple of hundred feet from the launch stand, so you can understand why excitement was suddenly replaced with concern.

I also supported one of the many weapon test ranges that dot the 725-square-mile base. These tests involved aircraft shooting rockets at targets on the ground. They were always interesting to watch as a swarm of four aircraft was able to keep continuous rocket fire on the target for 45-minutes and sometimes longer.

I wouldn’t witness any more launches until several years later when I was assigned to the Vandenberg Space Force Base Fire Department in 1975. 

Unlike the rockets at Eglin, the mission at Vandenberg was to place satellites into orbit, and this required some very large rockets to put these objects where the Air Force wanted them to go.

When I retired from the fire department, I went to work for aerospace contractors that supported the ground preparation of the rockets for their transport mission.

These preparations took several months to complete, and if a mission were aborted prior to launch it could take weeks to recycle the rocket for flight. Many of these occurred in the late night or early morning hours.

In addition, the facilities used to gain access to the rocket and the satellite atop it were massive 25-story structures that moved and required thousands of hours of maintenance every year so they could support the mission. A couple of hundred skilled technicians were needed to keep these facilities running smoothly.

In the 30 years, I worked on the various programs I witnessed scores of launches and some spectacular failures resulting in massive explosions.  Following each launch, it would take several weeks to repair launch facilities and modify the support structures for the next mission.

Today it’s much different. Unlike the government, commercial launch contractors are in the business to make money; they needed a better, repeatable, cost-effective way to put their cargos in space.

Many of the engineers and managers hired by these firms came from government space programs after they ended, and they all put their heads together to come up with a better way of doing business.

What they settled on was a tested method used in the mid 1950s for ballistic rockets used for air defense.

Back-in-the-day, it took a “standing army” of engineers and technicians working to ready the site for the next launch; it was very expensive but necessary to retain skilled workers and staff to support operations 24 hours a day for several months.

The commercial launchers needed to reduce this to several days, not months, so the first thing they did was remove all those massive buildings and replace them with what’s known as a strongback. This method allows the team to complete many of the preparations at ground level and just prior to launch they transition the rocket and its payload from horizontal to vertical.

Then, instead of using highly toxic propellants and oxidizers, they use a combination of liquid oxygen and a kerosene-like liquid to push the rocket and its payload skyward. This is a much safer way and requires less time and only a handful of technicians. If they must abort prior the launch, they can recycle in less than 24 hours.

At Vandenberg the launch rate has increased to about one per week, this was unheard of for military launches.

Another improvement was the ability to return the booster rocket back to earth for reuse. This innovation saved the cost of building a new rocket for each mission, and has enabled the launchers to recycle the launch vehicles several times before they are retired – some have flown dozens of times.
 
The rocket launch business has improved dramatically since the 1960s, and as the commercial launchers move forward developing repeatable processes that will result in more frequent and less expensive launches.

So, sit back listen and watch the show.