Well, it probably is useful to have a facility fairly close to the pad depending on how the system engineering is done.
Besides protection from potential blast, I think the VAB was placed so far away to protect it against acoustic damage from the very loud Saturn V. The shuttle was also pretty loud, if not louder than the Saturn, which makes me wonder about Vandenberg's STS pad setup with the roll-away structures. Sadly we never got to see it in action.
Besides protection from potential blast, I think the VAB was placed so far away to protect it against acoustic damage from the very loud Saturn V. The shuttle was also pretty loud, if not louder than the Saturn, which makes me wonder about Vandenberg's STS pad setup with the roll-away structures. Sadly we never got to see it in action.