This is my tribute to NASA's Space Shuttle program.
An elevated water tank provides sound buffering protection for the launching spacecraft. Part of the Sound Suppression System, the 290-foot (88-meter) water towers store 300,000 gallons of water, which is released just before engine ignition. The water discharge onto the launch platform during liftoff muffles the intense sound waves produced by the shuttle stack's engines. Due to the immense heating of the water, a great amount of steam is produced during launch.