SLS Will Use Many Shuttle-Era Installations

According to a recent announcement made by officials at NASA, it would appear that the Space Launch System (SLS) program will have access to whatever components of the Space Shuttle Program it can make use of, including the Crawler-Transporter vehicle.

The latter is the second-largest tracked vehicle in the world. It was originally developed to move the Saturn V rockets carrying Apollo capsules to their Florida launch sites, and was later a part of the SSP as the shuttles made a name for themselves.

Now, the Crawler-Transporter and its associated facilities will see service once more, this time for the massive SLS rocket. All in all, NASA will pay about $2 billion for changes that need to be made at the Kennedy Space Center to support the new delivery system.

Experts also announced that a $500 million launch platform built specifically for the now-canceled Ares 1 rocket will also be used to support SLS operations, Space reports.