NASA’s Pegasus Barge is ready to transport the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage from New Orleans to Florida, reports marine Insight.
Team members have started putting pedestals aboard the barge to secure the enormous core stage for the Artemis II test trip around the moon.
The journey will cover 900 miles from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Orleans to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Space shuttle
The Pegasus barge, which transported space shuttle external tanks previously, has been redesigned and renovated to carry the larger and heavier SLS core stage.
Pegasus, measuring 310 feet long and 50 feet wide, now has three 200-kilowatt generators providing power.
Tugboats and towing vessels will transport the barge from Michoud to Kennedy, where the core stage will be integrated with other rocket elements and prepared for launch.
NASA’s Arterim program aims to land the first woman, person of colour, and international partner astronaut to the moon.
The SLS is the only rocket capable of sending astronauts, Orion and supplies to the moon in a single launch.
Pegasus history
Pegasus was built in 1999 to transport space shuttle external tanks, replacing the earlier Poseidon and Orion barges used for Saturn rocket stages and Apollo program hardware.
The barge’s final space shuttle journey was in 2011.
The SLS’s first mission will be in a Block 1 configuration with a 70-metric-ton lift capacity, transporting an unmanned Orion spacecraft beyond the Moon.
The next SLS development, Block 1B, will use a more powerful upper stage with a lift capacity of 105 metric tons while continuing to use the core stage transported by Pegasus.
Did you Subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: Marine Insight
