KSC-2011-7802

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a water truck leads the way spraying water on the dry crawlerway to reduce dust particles in the air, as the mobile launcher (ML) begins its move aboard a crawler-transporter. The ML is moving from next to Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B, a distance of 4.2 miles. Data on the ML will be collected from structural and functional engineering tests and used for the next phases of construction. The 355-foot-tall ML structure, which took about two years to construct, is being modified to support NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the heavy-lift rocket that will launch astronauts farther into space than ever before. SLS will also create high-quality jobs here at home, and provide the cornerstone for America's future human space exploration efforts. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis