Home » Mobile Launcher Arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B for Artemis ll Preps

Mobile Launcher Arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B for Artemis ll Preps

By  //  August 17, 2023

Artemis II set to launch November 2024

The mobile launcher, carried by the crawler-transporter 2, rolls out from its park site location to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 16, 2023. While at the pad, it will undergo testing for the agency’s Artemis II mission. Under Artemis, the mobile launcher will transport NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to pad 39B for liftoff. (Image by NASA/Ben Smegelsky)

BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – After an approximately four-mile journey over the course of two days, mobile launcher 1 arrived on Aug. 17 at Launch Pad 39B from its park site location at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It will remain at the pad for several months as teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program prepare for Artemis ll, the first crewed mission under Artemis.

Teams will conduct a variety of tests and continue ground systems upgrades on both structures.

These preparations include testing the pad’s new 1.4-million-gallon liquid hydrogen sphere and emergency egress system.

After testing at the pad is complete, the mobile launcher will travel to the Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for rocket stacking operations ahead of launching Artemis ll.