What took years to build required only seconds to knock down
Aug. 6 when 171 pounds of strategically placed explosives
toppled a historic 179-foot mobile service tower at the Cape
Canaveral AFS. The 1,300-ton structure was used to launch 51
Atlas/Agena space vehicles in the 1960s and 1970s. The most
famous of those launches were five Lunar Orbiter missions for
NASA in 1966 and 1967. Those missions photographed about 99
percent of the moon’s surface and helped pave the way for men
landing on the moon in 1969. The last launch from the complex
was in April 1978 and then the pad was abandoned. Mother Nature
then whittled away at the complex and the old tower, leaving a
badly corroded structure in its Pieces of the rusty tower, along
with toxic paint chips, fell to the ground over the years --
creating safety and environmental “The demolition of this tower
demonstrates our commitment to safety and a healthy
environment,” said Teresa Fiorillo, 45th Civil Engineer Squadron
project officer. “Yet, it’s kind of sad to