Following the conclusion of NASA’s Artemis II test flight, teams at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are shifting focus to Artemis III, which is targeted to launch next year, by rolling the mobile launcher from Launch Complex 39B to NASA’s Kennedy Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Florida in preparation for rocket stacking operations.
The mobile launcher began its approximately 4-mile trek on top of the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 at 8:11 a.m. EDT Thursday, April 16, two weeks after sending NASA astronauts and Artemis II crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and (CSA) Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on their record-setting journey around the Moon and back.
Once it returns to the VAB, teams will continue to perform additional checkouts, inspections and data analysis and begin making repairs to the flame hole panels, elevators, pneumatic panels, and umbilicals that were damaged. Application of lessons learned from Artemis I to harden and reinforce ground support equipment at the pad proved successful as the mobile launcher and launch pad sustained minimal damage from the 8.8 million pounds of thrust expelled at booster ignition.
The mobile launcher is expected to pause operations on Thursday to give ground teams an opportunity to rest, and they will resume operations and proceed to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Friday, April 17.
Follow the livestream of the mobile launcher on the move.