Except there was no spec. The only temperature spec that existed was for the motor itself--and it had enough thermal mass that it didn't get too cold. No spec existed for the joints.
And they didn't even realize the actual conditions. The ice team had taken temperature readings that showed the booster well below ambient temperature, these were dismissed as wrong. They weren't wrong, the weather that morning was calm enough the LOX boiloff was falling pretty close to straight down, cooling the booster.
And they didn't even realize the actual conditions. The ice team had taken temperature readings that showed the booster well below ambient temperature, these were dismissed as wrong. They weren't wrong, the weather that morning was calm enough the LOX boiloff was falling pretty close to straight down, cooling the booster.