Throwing History (with a capital H) in the trash

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

http://www.floridatoday.com/news/space/stories/2004a/020704savethepad.htm

NASA delays tower destruction

Preservationists will try to save historic pad

BY TODD HALVORSON
FLORIDA TODAY

CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA delayed plans to dispose of the hazardous remnants of a historic Apollo launch tower this week to see wheter a preservation group can come up with enough money to turn the gantry into a national monument.

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Several previous "Save The Tower" campaigns have failed,and now heavy metals and toxic substances within orange gantry paint are leeching into the soil at the open-air storage site as well as the water table beneath it.

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"A lot of people have tried over the years to save the tower, but unfortunately no one has come up with the financial wherewithal to do it," said Burton Summerfield, chief of the safety, health and environmental division at KSC.

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Since 1983, the old Apollo launch umbilical tower has sat in a secure area at Kennedy Space Center. In the near future, the structures will be decontaminated and then cut up for scrap, if it can't be saved.