7/30/2023 0 Comments Nasa space shuttle launch 2013NASA is aware of the history it is destroying. "It was deemed to be unsafe - too many places for people to get hurt," Giles said. Given the sheer size and mass of the mobile launch platforms - each weighs 8.23 million pounds (3,730 tonnes) and stands 160 feet long by 135 feet wide by 25 feet high (49 by 41 by 7.6 meters) - NASA can only move them using one of their two Apollo-era crawler transporters, and they can only be parked at the VAB, at the pad or the midfield site.Īssuming another site could be identified, NASA looked at whether MLP-3 could be used by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to give the public access to it as a tourist attraction, but that was not practical. "As soon as Boeing came down and looked over, the first thing they said is that the MLP had to go it was in the way," said Giles.Ī 2009 aerial view of Mobile Launch Platform-3 (MLP-3) as seen parked at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Currently that work is done at the Michoud Assembly Facility outside New Orleans, but by shipping components to Kennedy, it can streamline and expedite production of the towering boosters needed for NASA's Artemis moon program. "Various companies applied for that lease, and it was determined by NASA that it would be given to Boeing," he said.Īs the lead contractor for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Boeing is planning to use High Bay 2 to build up future SLS core stages. "So last year, probably about halfway through the year, NASA and KSC decided we weren't using all of the VAB, so we were going to lease out certain areas. "It became a simple process of, we ran out of room," said Giles. At that time, NASA's plan was to store MLP-3 in High Bay 2 of the VAB, where it was for about a year. The platform sitting at its park site hinted at its fate, given the same location was used to demolish MLP-2 (ML-2) in 2021. NASA did not announce its decision to discard MLP-3. The steel structure is set to be demolished to make room for NASA's Artemis program hardware. NASA's Mobile Launch Platform-3 (MLP-3) at the midway park site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Right now, they're going through the process of sampling everything and making sure there are no hazardous chemicals left on board before they start the salvage process," Giles said. "MLP-3 has been moved out to the midfield park site and is awaiting demolition by a salvage contractor," John Giles, engineering operations manager for the crawler-transporters and other large equipment in NASA's Exploration Ground Systems program at Kennedy, said in an interview with. Mobile Launch Platform-3 (MLP-3), or Mobile Launcher-1 (ML-1) as it was known when NASA used it for the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 lunar missions more than 50 years ago, is set to be demolished, having recently been moved out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to a nearby yard at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The historic steel platform from which the first astronauts departed Earth to fly around and land on the moon now, itself, only has a limited time left on the planet.
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