The swing arms were added at a later date.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is carried atop the MLP-1 in the lead-up to STS-79Ĭonstruction of the Mobile Launcher Platform-1 (MLP-1) (formerly called the Mobile Launcher-3 or ML-3) began in 1964 and was completed with the installation of the Launch Umbilical Tower hammerhead crane on 1 March 1965. Vertical assembly allows the preparation of the spacecraft in a ready-for-launch position, and avoids the additional step of lifting or craning a horizontally-assembled vehicle onto the launchpad (as the engineers of the Soviet space program chose to do). The MLPs were designed as part of NASA's strategy for vertical assembly and transport of space vehicles. Two 2,750 horsepower (2.05 MW) diesel engines power each crawler. Each crawler weighs about 6 million pounds (2,700 tonnes) unloaded, has a maximum speed of about 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h) loaded, and has a leveling system designed to keep the launch vehicle vertical while negotiating the 5 percent grade leading to the top of the launch pad. They were carried by one of two crawler-transporters (CT), which measure 131 by 114 feet (40 by 35 m), and 20 feet (6.1 m) high. Įach MLP weighed 8.23 million pounds (3,730 tonnes) unloaded and roughly 11 million pounds (5,000 tonnes) with an unfueled Shuttle aboard, measured 160 by 135 feet (49 by 41 m), and was 25 feet (7.6 m) high. Immediately before SRB ignition, frangible nuts attached to the top of these studs were detonated, releasing the Shuttle assembly from the platform. The Space Shuttle assembly was held to the MLP at eight holddown points using large studs, four on the aft skirt of each Solid Rocket Booster. Two additional exhaust ports were added to vent exhaust from the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) that flanked the external fuel tank. The main engines vented their exhaust through the original opening used for the Saturn rocket exhaust. These 9.4 m (31 ft) masts contained the feed lines through which liquid hydrogen (LH 2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) were loaded into the shuttle's external fuel tank, as well as electrical hookups and flares that were used to burn off any ambient hydrogen vapors at the launch site immediately prior to Main Engine start. In addition to removal of the umbilical towers, each Shuttle-era MLP was extensively reconfigured with the addition of two Tail Service Masts (TSM), one on either side of the main engine exhaust vent. Efforts to preserve the LUT in the 1990s failed due to a lack of funding, and it was scrapped. The LUT from ML-1 was taken apart and stored in the Kennedy Space Center's industrial area. These permanent structures were known as the Fixed Service Structures (FSS). Portions of these tower structures were erected at the two launch pads, 39A and 39B. The Launch Umbilical Towers from ML-2 and ML-3 were removed. The swing arms were constructed by Hayes International.Īfter the Apollo program, the bases of the Mobile Launchers were modified for the Space Shuttle. The Mobile Launchers were built by Ingalls Iron Works. The Mobile Launchers also featured a 380-foot-tall (120 m) Launch Umbilical Tower ( LUT) with nine swing arms that permitted servicing of the vehicle on the launch pad, and swung away from it at launch. Each ML originally had a single exhaust vent for the Saturn V's engines. Formerly called Mobile Launchers ( ML), the mobile launcher platforms were constructed for transporting and launching the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program lunar landing missions of the 1960s and 1970s. Vertical assembly on the launch pad is used for smaller launch vehicles and for the SpaceX Starship.įrom 1967 to 2011, three platforms were used at the LC-39 to support NASA's launch vehicles. Horizontal assembly and transport to the pad is used by Russia, by ULA for the Delta IV family, and by SpaceX for the Falcon 9 family. The concept was first implemented in the 1960s for the United States Air Force's Titan III rocket, and it was later used by NASA for Saturn V, Space shuttle, and Space Launch System. The use of mobile launcher platform is a part of the Integrate-Transfer-Launch (ITL) system, which involves vertical assembly, transport, and launch of rockets. This becomes the support structure for launch. the Vehicle Assembly Building) and then transported by a crawler-transporter (CT) to a launch pad. The Mobile Launcher Platform-1 on top of a crawler-transporterĪ mobile launcher platform ( MLP), also known as mobile launch platform, is a structure used to support a large multistage space vehicle which is assembled (stacked) vertically in an integration facility (e.g.
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