Posted on September 30, 2024
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (WHNT) — NASA’S Pegasus Barge left Huntsville with a final destination down the Tennessee River: Kennedy Space Center.
On August 21, the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) for the Space Launch System (SLS) left the Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA said the adapter connects the rocket’s core stage to its upper stage and is crucial for protecting the engine that will power the Artemis II test flight around the moon in 2025.
“The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter is the cone-shaped piece of hardware,” Corrine Beckinger, a public affairs specialist at Marshall Space Flight Center, said. “It connects the rocket’s upper and lower stages, the core stage and the upper stage. It also gives the rocket its shape, where you start to see that tapered-pencil look. In addition, as serving as a connector, it helps protect the RL-10 engine which is in the upper stage of the rocket.”
The adapter’s next destination once leaving building 4708 was NASA’s Pegasus Barge which docked at the NASA dock on the Tennessee River.
After a quick stop to pick up more ‘space hardware’ at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, Pegasus’ final destination is the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Once the adapter is in Florida, it will join the core stage. Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems will then prepare it for stacking and ultimately, launch.
The Pegasus Barge is a transportation barge built for NASA in 1999 to ship the space shuttle’s external tanks to Florida. After the end of the shuttle program, the barge was refurbished and lengthened so it could be used in the SLS program to deliver the core stage and other components.
NASA said the SLS core stage is longer than a space shuttle’s external tank so the barge required an extension from 260 feet to 310 feet.
“It’s especially accommodated for the SLS rocket,” Arlan Cochran, NASA’s team leader for logistics, engineering and marine operations, said. “The SLS rocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty and it is more than 300 feet tall. Inside the barge, you’ll find special stands and transporters which keeps everything from rocking and rolling when it’s on the water.”
Why does NASA move things by water and not by truck? Cochran said it’s because the heavy parts would damage the roads and there isn’t a truck long enough for the parts.
John Campbell, a logistics engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center, said it takes about a week for the Pegasus Barge to make the journey depending on weather and cargo.
The Redstone Rocket said the Pegasus Barge can dock anywhere, but there are four docks which are specifically designed to accommodate it; Marshall Space Flight Center on Redstone Arsenal, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana and, of course, Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
