why do they not keep space shuttle indoors?

Question

how did the space shuttle get loads of dent holes from hail onto it? why do they not keep it in some huge building and take it out like 2 days or less before its meant to launch? , therefore it would keep it clean and thered be no risk of damage like that. why wasn't it under cover when it began raining? do they hav it sticking out at cape canaveral for tourists or something? in my opinion its pretty stupid they've probably done millions of dollars worth of damage and around this time of year its usual for florida to get these lil hail storms

Answer 1

It is kept indoors until it needs to be brought up to the launch pad, where fuel is pumped inside the various tanks, a process that takes a few days -- including the verifications and checks -- that cannot be done indoors as some of the fluid are volatile, explosives or even toxic.

Answer 2

The craft has to fuelled up and launch systems tested on the pad. It can be rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly building in a couple of hours but that doesn't help in cases of sudden unexpected weather conditions. In 1970 Apollo 12 was hit by lightning during lift off. If that could have been foreseen then the lunch would have been postponed.

Answer 3

It IS kept inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building most of the time. The mover that transports it to the launch pad moves verrrrrrrrry slooooowly, too slow to move it out of bad weather fast enough. Like one half mile to close to one mile per hour for stability and to move easily over bumps without the Shuttle falling over. The VAB is the biggest single open room in the world (biggest interior volume (area)).

Answer 4

as said, the shuttle is protected until launch week when it is rolled out to the launch pad. believe it or not, all types of weather conditions are engineered into the launch of the vehicle, including
the ones but not limited to the question. there are so many parameters that go into launch and it's sequences that launch
will not happen as long as one proves a no-go. if you ever have the opportunity, you should go and take a vacation and tour of the facility, it will blow your mind as to the size and the engineering
that goes on or go to www.nasa.gov. to see what goes on in real time. i would venture to say that 99% of the people here on answers are not rocket sceintist, but i think for the most part i think nasa knows what they are doing.