new world land-speed record was at Holloman Air Force Base

[tomsmith]

There used to be a rocket sled test track at Edwards AFB (i.e. the Air Force Flight Test Center) near Rosamond/Lancaster on the South Base.  It was used for ejection seat testing and (I think) ran speeds about 600/800mph.  I heard that one day the guy running the site had to go for help since he found a rattlesnake curled up on his desk near his phone.  The testing was transferred to Sandia and the Edwards test track was closed down in the middle 60s.  I heard that the Sandia test track was located on top of a mesa, and the track ended with a nice dropoff at the mesa edge.  The test vehicles just shot off the end of the track and presumably had a parachute or something to gently lower them to the ground.  Looks like speeds are higher now.

[roadtrip]

"Ground Control to Major Tom ............. hello ............. hello .......... "   

[Rex Schimmer]

Sandia has a few rattlesnakes too. I worked at a place that build underground blast doors for underground nuclear testing and we got one back from Sandia to do some modifications and it had a couple of rattlers as presents when we started to disassemble!

Rex

[JackD]

Snakes are the reason I host really ugly, underfed, over sized cats with my race stuff.
They catch hawks too, but let them go after playtime because their is not much meat.

[1977MGBV8]

answers to questions:
 

In general:
The tent is destroyed during the shots rocket burns it up.

They only pressurize the tent to a few PSI over ambient and do the best they can to seal it against the ground.

They stop using water brakes if the sled does not get destroyed (usually with the track).

[PJQ]

A few photos of the enclosed track and the sled...
http://www.holloman.af.mil/photos/index.asp?galleryID=2718