![]() ![]() 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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