Welcome to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
We’re here on top of the mobile launcher tower, more than 400 feet off the ground.
The beach is right there, it’s super windy, you can hear construction noise because this
is a construction zone.
I’m Joshua Santora, and today I’m going to give you a behind the scenes look at some
of the work being done to prepare for the Artemis program.
At the heart of that program are the Space Launch System, SLS, or heavy-lift rocket;
the Orion crew capsule; and Exploration Ground Systems - they’re responsible for all of
the infrastructure to actually launch.
Today’s tour will take a closer look at infrastructure like this tower and the pad
that it’s sitting on.
Be sure to enjoy the view and look around wherever we go.
All right, let’s hit it.
You’re now looking at the world’s largest single-story building and through the open
high bay doors, you can see the mobile launcher we were just standing on.
I don’t want you to take for granted the size of this building.
The Statue of Liberty on her pedestal are shorter than that tower.
And we don’t call it mobile for nothing.
We’re going to fast forward a bit to after that mobile launcher has been carried out
to the launch pad.
Here we go.
After the 11-million-pound mobile launcher completes the journey out here to the pad,
which takes about 8 hours.
This is the view from the deck where the Space Launch System, or SLS, will be stacked.
If the rocket were here, you’d be looking straight ahead at the main engines.
The hole below those for the exhaust is just in front of you and towering overhead is the
actual tower that will provide fuel, power, communication and crew access from the ground
to the vehicle through what we call umbilicals.
Remember, you don’t just need to provide necessary assets to one rocket; each stage
is essentially its own rocket.
You have to provide fuel to each stage.
Each stage needs power.
Each stage has sensor data that has to be shared.
And then you have to account for the fact that a 322-foot-tall rocket is going to sway
a little.
You need an arm to help hold it in place but still allow it to shift some.
That movement is all understood and expected based on the detailed engineering analysis
done by the NASA team.
Once the rocket rolls out here, there should only be about a week of work before we’re
ready to launch.
When we get to launch day, there’s a ton of work being done both here and in the Launch
Control Center to actually fly this thing into space.
Let’s head up and have a closer look at the tower.
If you’re afraid of heights, don’t look down.
The umbilicals I mentioned a minute ago are actually giant steel structures like the one
we’re hanging off the side of now, the crew access arm.
Another major umbilical is for the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that you can see
below us on the tower.
It’s like a two story tall steel structure that has to disconnect all of its connection
points safely without breaking them so they can reused, and then swing that 70,000-pound
arm more than 90 degrees to be clear of the rocket, and do it all in under 4 seconds.
That is some impressive engineering.
In addition to the beautiful landscape, you probably noticed those two giant towers.
Those are two of the three towers that make up the lightning protection system for the
launch pad area.
They’re each 600 feet tall.
One of the most important reasons we’re talking about this rocket at all, is the ability
to transport humans deeper into space than ever before.
Let’s get a close look at where our astronauts will be boarding the Orion spacecraft.
When NASA astronauts enter this White Room to climb aboard Orion, they do so knowing
that there are thousands and thousands of men and women who have worked for years to
prepare, build, test and have confidence in the world’s most powerful rocket.
On launch day, that yellow cargo net and covering behind it won’t be there, and instead they’ll
be looking down into the crew capsule.
As the astronauts take their last steps on Earth right here before blasting off into
space, they know they’re taking another giant leap for all mankind.
And this giant leap brings us all one step closer to pioneering other worlds.
We hope you’ll continue to track our progress as we work towards the first woman and next
man to walk on the moon.
From KSC and for Exploration Ground Systems, that’s all for today.
Remember, we build, launch and recover for the next evolution in humanity’s deep-space
exploration.
We’ll see you next time.