Core Stage Engine Platform Installation on Mobile Launcher

Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the engine service platform that will provide access to the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is lifted up in the center of the mobile launcher (ML) in High Bay 3 on June 18, 2019. The large work platform is designed to provide unrestricted access to the RS-25 engines on the SLS core stage from the ML. The service platform will be used for Artemis 1 and subsequent missions. For Artemis 1, the Orion spacecraft will launch atop the SLS rocket from Launch Pad 39B and begin an approximately three-week mission that will send Orion thousands of miles beyond the Moon. In view at left are the two Tail Service Mast Umbilicals. They will provide liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fluid lines and electrical cable connections to the SLS core stage engine section. Exploration Ground Systems is overseeing work on the ML.