Final Assembly Complex

One of the few remaining easily visible structures from the Scottish space programme of the 1950s and 60s, this is where final assembly of the vehicles took place.  After the end of the programme following the presumed loss of the third mission after the trans-lunar-injection burn (the details of this event are still shrouded in secrecy) the complex was closed, and has since been repurposed.

The launch vehicles were assembled in the 18 silos visible to the left before being transferred to a pontoon and moved to the launch site on the Isle of May.  The building on the right contained service & fueling facilities.

The easternmost centre silo (this photo is from the west from the area now redeveloped as 'Platinum Point' which was formerly the Vehicle Preparation Complex) contains a nearly-complete vehicle which would have been used for the fourth mission if that had taken place.  There are well-sourced rumours that this vehicle is still maintained in flight-ready condition, although it is unclear why.

Extra: abandoned Ascent Tracking Building.  There were two of these: this one is in Leith close to where the vehicles were constructed, and the other is, or was, in Fife.  In the 1990s it was still possible to get into this if you were willing to risk the somewhat hazardous environment: health and safety was not a serious concern during the life of the programme and there is asbestos as well as pools of mercury from the bath the stabilised platforms lived in.  Unfortunately none of the photographs I took at the time (shot of course on film with no flash, at night) are really recognisable, although the bright spots and lines on the film from high-energy particles are decorative.  Access now seems not to be possible.