Building bridges with rockets NOV 25 2008 The world's highest
bridge, the Siduhe Grand Bridge, is nearing completion in
China's Hubei province. The bridge is so high off the ground
that the Empire State Building could fit under it with over 350
feet to spare. To get the initial cable from one tower to the
next, the builders used precisely aimed rockets! so you've
erected the enormous towers on each side of the deep valley,
deeper than any valley previously bridged. how do you get a
pilot cable from one tower to the next? previous solutions have
included: attaching the cable to a kite and flying it over (e.g.
niagara falls suspension bridge), carrying one end by helicopter
(e.g. akashi kaikyo bridge) and floating one end on a boat (e.g.
brooklyn bridge). the brains behind the siduhe bridge decided to
ignore all those options and break another record instead. they
attached the 3200ft cables to rockets and accurately fired them
over the valley, becoming the first people to do so.