SLS Core Stage Pathfinder Transport to VAB

The 212-foot-long Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage pathfinder has been offloaded from NASA’s Pegasus Barge at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Oct. 1, 2019. It is slowly being backed up so that it is in the correct configuration for the move forward to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The Pegasus Barge made its first delivery to Kennedy in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The upgraded 310-foot-long barge arrived Sept. 27, 2019, ferrying the SLS core stage pathfinder, a full-scale mock-up of the rocket's core stage. It will be used by Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, using important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder will stay at Kennedy for approximately one month before trekking back to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.