14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at NASA announced recently that Rockledge, Florida-based company J.P. Donovan Construction Inc. won the contract to upgrade the massive mobile rocket launch platform at its Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. The vehicle is also known as the Crawler Transporter.
The CT is the second-largest tracked vehicle in the world, and it played an important role for a wide variety of NASA missions, including the Apollo Moon program and all space shuttle launches. In August 2010, work was completed on an overhaul that made the vehicle able to support the ARES I delivery system.
However, after NASA canceled Project Constellation, the CT was suddenly unemployed. After a clear time frame was set for the development of the new Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift delivery system, the space agency started looking for contractors to prepare the mobile launcher for its new guest.
The new version of the launcher will be first used sometime in 2017, when the SLS rocket carries an unmanned Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle capsule on its maiden flight. Takeoff will occur from Launch Pad 39B at the KSC. In all likelihood, J.P. Donovan will finish the conversion long before then, Space reports.