Two more huge Schweiss bifold doors destined for SpaceX at Cape Canaveral

SpaceX is getting to be a name as identifiable as NASA (National Aeronautics and

Space Administration) was. Ever since government funding was cut for NASA,

SpaceX has been in the forefront of space exploration. They have already developed

expendable rockets able to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and

are most likely going to provide satellite launch services, passenger tourist flights

and cargo delivery to orbit sooner than you think.

“SpaceX is like Special Forces… we do the missions that others think are

impossible. We have goals that are absurdly ambitious by any reasonable standard,

but we’re going to make them happen. We have the potential here at SpaceX to have

an incredible effect on the future of humanity and life itself,” noted Elon Musk –

SpaceX CEO & Chief Designer.

The same goes for Schweiss Doors, an established 35-year-old company that

specializes in large custom-made doors that many other companies wouldn’t dare to

make. Schweiss doors destined for SpaceX locations is nothing new. Schweiss has

built large doors installed at various SpaceX locations going back to 2008 for Cape

Canaveral, Waco, Texas and Vandenberg AFB in California, and they keep coming

back for more.

Doors required by SpaceX are not your run-of-the-mill doors; there are a lot of

specialized things associated with these doors that Schweiss Doors has to conform

with.

Their latest orders just left the Schweiss Doors factory. They will soon be installed

on a new steel hangar at Cape Canaveral. The largest of the two is a Bifold Liftstrap

door 90 ft. wide x 61 ft. tall. The second door on that shipment is 40 ft. wide x 69 ft.

tall. Each of the doors is equipped with automatic latches and are windrated to 150

mph. After they arrive at the site they will be clad in 26 gauge sheeting and have 4-

inch blanket insulation. Bottom-drive 480 volt, 3 phase motors and patented

Schweiss liftstraps will do the lifting of these doors that exceed 46,700 lbs.

SpaceX maintains launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Kennedy Space

Center in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and Boca Chica, Texas.

Each location offers key benefits to support our customers’ missions. SpaceX tests

its engines and structures at a 4,000-acre state-of-the-art rocket development

facility in McGregor, Texas.

SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corporation is a space transport

company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. Their launch manifest is

populated by a diverse customer base; including space station resupply missions,

commercial satellite launch missions, and US government science and national

security missions.

Cape Canaveral on the southeast coast of Florida provides access to a wide range of

low and medium inclination orbits frequently used by communications and Earth-

observing satellites and by supply missions to the International Space Station. The

site also allows access to geostationary orbits, as well as departures to the Moon and

interplanetary destinations.

Situated on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, with Patrick Air Force Base to the

south and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the north, SLC-40 benefits from many

support services in the region, including security and launch range control, weather

monitoring, ground support infrastructure, payload processing facilities, and long-

range tracking cameras capable of observing launches from liftoff through stage

separation and second-stage ignition out over the Atlantic.