Main Engine Cut OffSLC-41’s Common White Room
Eric Berger posted a link to an article on CollectSPACE that I hadn’t seen, indicating that ULA replaced the white room at SLC-41 with a new version:
The white room that was mounted to the arm two years ago was recently replaced to "enhance the capability" for Boeing's Starliner and to ensure "flexibility for future commercial launch partners," a ULA spokesperson told collectSPACE.
The height of what ULA now calls the "Common White Room" was increased by 4 feet (1.2 meters). For the most part, the room features the same equipment and functionality of the prior model, but some of the locations for storage and communications connections were changed to improve access based on lessons learned with the original configuration.
ULA has a well-documented love for the word “Common” in their vehicle names: Common Centaur, Common Booster Core, and Common Core Booster.
I can only assume this use of common refers to the future use of Vulcan to launch Starliner. If that’s the case, it’s a good sign about where they’re at with the design of Vulcan, that they’re ready to make hardware changes to accommodate Vulcan in the future.