The mobile launcher for NASA’s Artemis missions is returning to Launch Pad 39B on Sept. 10, 2019, after spending a week and a half inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) due to the approach of Hurricane Dorian. The nearly 400-foot-tall structure, which is rated to withstand 110 mph winds, was taken to the VAB for safekeeping on Aug. 30. The storm passed about 70 miles east of the spaceport during the overnight hours Tuesday, Sept. 3, and Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Now a week past the storm, NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) is moving the mobile launcher back to the launch pad. The 4-mile trek began at 9:30 a.m. today as crawler-transporter 2 began lifting the mobile launcher off its pedestals inside the VAB. The crawler-transporter and mobile launcher will complete most of the trip this afternoon and evening, then move up the ramp onto the pad’s hardstand tomorrow morning. Once the mobile launcher is in place at the pad, teams will complete testing and checkout on the launcher in the coming weeks for the Artemis I mission.
Before the storm, the validation and verification testing with the pad and launcher were nearing completion, and EGS will finish up the remaining testing this fall.
Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky