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The core
stage pathfinder mock-up for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket was fully
offloaded from NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30, 2019 after arriving at the turn
basin Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 27, 2019 – dramatically backdropped
by the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where it will be moved to for a
month of critical lifting and stacking maneuvers inside. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Ken
Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com &
RocketSTEM – 30 September 2019
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The 212 foot long core stage pathfinder mock-up for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket was offloaded from the agency’s one-of-a-kind Pegasus barge Monday, Sept 30, at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida where it will serve as a test article for critical lifting and stacking maneuvers inside the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for the next 4 weeks in support of the Artemis moon exploration program aimed at landing US astronauts on the lunar south pole by 2024.
Pegasus and Pathfinder had sailed into and docked at the Turn Basin by the world famous countdown clock at Kennedy three days ago on Friday afternoon, Sept. 27 after being towed by ocean-going and river-going tugboats for a nearly 1000-mile and week-long trek from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to KSC.
Technicians started offloading the 212-foot-long cylindrical Pathfinder from the 310-foot-long Pegasus barge on Monday morning, Sept. 30 and then move a day later, Tuesday, Oct. 1 a short distance to the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for a month of maneuvering and stacking practice by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team and contractor Jacobs before the first real SLS core stage arrives sometime in mid-2020 for eventual launch on the Artemis 1 mission in late 2020 or early 2021.
Media including Space UpClose were invited to attend both last Friday and Monday. Watch our on site coverage from today and last week.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The 212 foot long core stage pathfinder mock-up for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket was offloaded from the agency’s one-of-a-kind Pegasus barge Monday, Sept 30, at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida where it will serve as a test article for critical lifting and stacking maneuvers inside the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for the next 4 weeks in support of the Artemis moon exploration program aimed at landing US astronauts on the lunar south pole by 2024.
Pegasus and Pathfinder had sailed into and docked at the Turn Basin by the world famous countdown clock at Kennedy three days ago on Friday afternoon, Sept. 27 after being towed by ocean-going and river-going tugboats for a nearly 1000-mile and week-long trek from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to KSC.
Technicians started offloading the 212-foot-long cylindrical Pathfinder from the 310-foot-long Pegasus barge on Monday morning, Sept. 30 and then move a day later, Tuesday, Oct. 1 a short distance to the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for a month of maneuvering and stacking practice by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team and contractor Jacobs before the first real SLS core stage arrives sometime in mid-2020 for eventual launch on the Artemis 1 mission in late 2020 or early 2021.
Media including Space UpClose were invited to attend both last Friday and Monday. Watch our on site coverage from today and last week.
 |
The core
stage pathfinder mock-up for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket was fully
offloaded from NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30, 2019 after arriving at the turn
basin Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 27, 2019 – dramatically backdropped
by the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where it will be moved to for a
month of critical lifting and stacking maneuvers inside. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
The 228,000 pound SLS core stage pathfinder is a full-scale
mockup test article that is identical to the core stage in shape, size and
weight. But the 27.6 foot diameter cylinder is hollow and lacking fuel tanks, built from stainless steel
and has 4 wire rim replica engine placeholders in place of the real RS-25 engines.
“This will help ensure that all core stage
engineers and technicians are trained and certified in preparation for the
flight core stage processing,” said Jim Bolton, EGS core stage element
operations manager at Kennedy.
“It’s a very significant milestone that will
demonstrate the capabilities and ability for KSC to receive, process and
integrate that flight hardware.”
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Technicians
roll the core stage pathfinder mock-up for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket
fully off from NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30, 2019 after it arriving at the turn
basin Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 27, 2019. It will be transported
inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for a month of critical lifting and
stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Pegasus had to be lengthened approx. 50 feet
to accommodate Pathfinder compared to the shorter Shuttle External tanks it previously
transported from NASA Michoud to KSC.
The NASA/contractor team started rolling off the Pathfinder mockup from the Pegasus barge using two WHEELLIFT transporters around 11 a.m. ET this morning – base first with the 4 replica engines exposed.
After about a quarter of the test article was out the team stopped to assess procedures, weights, balances and torques on the wheeled transporter and cradles to ensure all was within specification.
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Panoramic
view shows technicians starting roll-off of the core stage pathfinder mock-up for
NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket from NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30,
2019 after arriving at the turn basin Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept.
27, 2019. It will be transported inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for
a month of critical lifting and stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.
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By 2 p.m. the mammoth 21 story tall core stage
pathfinder was fully rolled off horizontally from Pegasus.
By 4 p.m. they had rolled the lengthy cylinder back onto Pegasus for the night.
Overall the teams spent the day practicing rolling the pathfinder off and on Pegasus and making 3 point turns to prepare for transport into the VAB on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
By 4 p.m. they had rolled the lengthy cylinder back onto Pegasus for the night.
Overall the teams spent the day practicing rolling the pathfinder off and on Pegasus and making 3 point turns to prepare for transport into the VAB on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
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Technicians
start roll-off of the core stage pathfinder mock-up for NASA’s Space Launch
System megarocket from NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30, 2019 after arriving at
the turn basin Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 27, 2019. It will be transported
inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for a month of critical lifting and
stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The purpose of shipping the SLS pathfinder test
article to KSC is for use by NASA engineers and contractors for the next four
weeks to practice stacking the hardware in the VAB High Bay 3 using the same procedures
needed to stack the real hardware for the Artemis I mission.
This month long work period is the only time Pathfinder will be present
at KSC. The NASA EGS team told me it was always planned for Pathfinder to
travel to KSC for these stacking exercises as part of preparations for launch of the Artemis 1
mission.
The SLS core stage mock-up will be transported into the transfer aisle of the VAB for the stacking maneuvers.
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Rear view
of SLS core stage pathfinder after full roll-off from NASA’s Pegasus barge on
Sept. 30, 2019. Once inside the Vehicle
Assembly Building (VAB) it will be used for a month of critical lifting and
stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The SLS core stage mock-up will be transported into the transfer aisle of the VAB for the stacking maneuvers.
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Base of
SLS core stage pathfinder and 4 replica RS-25 engines after partial roll-off from
NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30, 2019. Once
inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) it will be used for a month of critical
lifting and stacking maneuvers. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Crane crews will then lift the long cylindrical test article off the transporter and raise it nearly 200 into the vertical position using the bridge cranes on the VAB roof.
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Left said
rear view of SLS core stage pathfinder after full roll-off from NASA’s Pegasus
barge on Sept. 30, 2019 – with ULA pad 41 and Atlas V rocket astronaut crew launch
tower visible in the distance . Once inside
the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) it will be used for a month of critical lifting
and stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Left side
view of SLS core stage pathfinder after full roll-off from NASA’s Pegasus barge
on Sept. 30, 2019. Once inside the Vehicle
Assembly Building (VAB) it will be used for a month of critical lifting and
stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Then it will be lowered by crane back to where the mobile launcher would normally reside.
Basically, this involves the same lifting and stacking procedures as were done for the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET).
And the crane crew is highly experienced says NASA and is comprised largely of the same folks who worked on the shuttle ET – which was last launched in 2011.
However the SLS core stage is more than 50 feet longer then the ET.
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Left side
view of SLS core stage pathfinder after full roll-off from NASA’s Pegasus barge
on Sept. 30, 2019. Once inside the Vehicle
Assembly Building (VAB) it will be used for a month of critical lifting and
stacking maneuvers. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
About 40 to 50 people will be working on pathfinder operations inside the VAB at any one time.
If deemed necessary to gain added practice and confidence they will practice the same lifting and stacking maneuvers up to two more times in the VAB – before exiting and departing.
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Base of
SLS core stage pathfinder and 4 replica RS-25 engines after partial roll-off from
NASA’s Pegasus barge on Sept. 30, 2019. Once
inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) it will be used for a month of critical
lifting and stacking maneuvers. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
“Over the next several months, pathfinder will be used to validate ground support equipment and demonstrate how the core stage will be integrated in the VAB – the same process the actual core stage will undergo when being processed for Artemis I.”
The pathfinder exercises will be completed by Oct 31.
Pegasus is NASA’s one of a kind and football field sized barge
used to transport the space vehicle hardware between NASA centers for testing and
eventually to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The SLS core stage
pathfinder was transported from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi where
it recently completed fit check testing for the upcoming ‘green run’ test of
the first real SLS core stage for the Artemis 1 mission.  |
NASA’s
Pegasus barge transporting the Space Launch System core stage pathfinder arrived
at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 27, 2019 is towed by 2 tugboats
and sails past the launch site at Launch Complex 39B. It will undergo a month
of critical testing inside the VAB after shipping from
NASA Stennis in Mississippi. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Pegasus
barge seen in the distance passes below VAB while towed along the Banana River on
Sept 27, 2019 on the way to docking at turn basin near VAB at the Kennedy Space
Center - in this elevated view from Exploration Tower. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The 310 foot long Pegasus
followed the same route used by NASA vessels decades earlier to ship Apollo
moon rocket stages and Space Shuttle External tanks and solid rocket boosters.
NASA will conduct a full
duration ‘green run’ engine fire test of the completed core stage at Stennis to
fully confirm its readiness for flight on Artemis 1. But that test will require
six months of intense work by NASA and
contractor teams.
Watch for Ken’s
continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center,
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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NASA’s
Orion crew capsule for the first Artemis lunar mission has completed major
assembly for the Artemis 1 mission is seen here in the manufacturing facility
at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space
Center in Florida in July 2019. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and
outreach events
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