AWESOME! Thanks for sharing Skippy. Big S & F

I've witnessed several returning through Port Canaveral. I was familiar with the process in broad stokes but in no way could have imagined the scope and detail of the retrieval process. I suppose I thought they just located the boosters and cleated them off and towed back to reprocessing facility.

It appears the spent tanks being hollow fill up with seawater (Seems odd there is no 'check valve' given the corrosive nature of salt water) and must be evacuated/drained to achieve buoyancy before towing back. Very interesting indeed. The more I learn the more I realize just how ignorant I am.

Awesome video

Never thought about this aspect of shuttle missions...

Thanks guys.
One thing I saw I didn't really understand and maybe someone could elaborate- it looks like there's a valve at the rear of the booster that's spewing out water- does anyone know why that's there or what they are doing?

Originally posted by Skippy1138
Thanks guys.
One thing I saw I didn't really understand and maybe someone could elaborate- it looks like there's a valve at the rear of the booster that's spewing out water- does anyone know why that's there or what they are doing?

As I had guessed before, it appears they are 'evacuating / draining' tank to pump out water to make it float / towable. It appears that is what the divers do, attach pump/valve. It would seem that there would be some sort of 'check valve' (one-way- back flow preventer) to let fuel out but prevent water from coming in. I'm sure there is a reason as they are 'Rocket Scientists' but it strikes me as odd. Being a boater, I know what salt water does to components.

Perhaps someone will explain that concept.

ETA: Not to mention environmental impact. Assuming tanks are not 100% empty, I'm guessing some of that unspent fuel mixes with seawater. I might expect that is toxic but the divers are in standard wetsuits. (non Hazmat or 'dry suits' ) Interesting and puzzling.

Thanks for the video S+F. I knew they reused the boosters but never really thought of the effort or the machinery involed, very interesting.

Interesting video, thanks for posting it. I always knew they had to retrieve them but I've never seen it done before.
Needless to say, it's a little bit more involved than one might think. S&F

Don't stop with just the recovery of the booster. Don't forget to also recover it's tons of pollutants it added to the atmosphere, and those that leached out into the sea water.