NASA’s most off limits room has one super cool feature that people are eager to try themselves
Working within close range of a rocket that is due to blast off into space can be pretty dangerous.
That was the main reason for NASA to build a hidden room 40 feet below ground.
Encased in concrete, the bunker was designed to protect astronauts and crew in the event of an emergency at one of the launchpads at the Kennedy Space Center.
Some rockets there contain over two and a half thousand tonnes of propellant and if it suddenly exploded, it would have the force of an atomic bomb.
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To prevent an incident from killing everyone on the launchpad, the space agency decided to create an underground bunker where the crew could seek shelter for several days.
But that’s not the reason people are talking about it now - the room is strictly off limits and has been inaccessible for decades.
If we were allowed to visit it, there would be only one way down… by water slide.
A YouTube video made by Primal Space details how people would get themselves to safety, explaining: “The crew had to make their way to level A inside the mobile launch platform, the massive two storey structure that supported the Saturn 5.
“Once it arrived at the pad, a small hatch in the platform would connect to a structure that stuck out from the launchpad.
“This was a 60 meter long slide that started inside the platform and went down through the concrete launchpad until it reached the bunker.”
The slide would be sprayed with sprinklers to help the crew slide down more easily.
Reaching the end of the drop, they would arrive in a place called the rubber room, which was lined with thick walls of rubber to absorb energy from an explosion.
The rubber was also meant to help people slow down at the end of the slide but that didn’t always work and one worker broke several bones while using it.
It is one of the most off limits rooms NASA has and only a handful of people have ever been allowed inside, making many people curious about what it’s like down there.
In the YouTube comment section, one user posted: “The engineering lengths they went to to protect the crew any way they could is impressive.”
But focus seemed to be on a particular aspect of the bunker, with another user commenting: “Imagine having a completely off limits water slide in your workplace. Truly heartbreaking.”
A third added: “That slide looked like a lot of fun minus the potential of crashing into the wall at the end.”
And a fourth said: “The water slide would be the best part!”
There are calls by fans to turn the room into a tourist attraction but - as it’s directly under an active launchpad - it doesn’t look like the forbidden water slide will be made available to the public anytime soon.