Storied rocket launch pad blasted into history Thursday

From Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien

October 14, 1999
Web posted at: 10:12 a.m. EDT (1412 GMT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- After 34 years of use and 27 unmanned space launches, Cape Canaveral's launch pad 41 has been blasted into history.

Over recent weeks, workers have removed supporting beams and braces from the storied pad, where the Viking Lander and Voyager began their journeys to Mars in the 1970s.

On Thursday after 10 a.m. EDT, some 200 pounds of explosives were detonated, and the whole structure crashed to the ground.

The launch pad is being removed to make way for a new complex for Lockheed-Martin's Atlas 5 rocket, which should begin blasting off by the end of 2001.

Lockheed-Martin officials said it would have taken six months to dismantle the launch pad without explosives. But by blowing it up, they will cut four months off of the schedule.

The company has been selling T-shirts commemorating the pad 41 blast, as well as offering raffle tickets for the privilege of being the person to push a symbolic button setting off the explosives. Proceeds go to a holiday fund benefiting the needy.