Columbia to Endeavor: Bluegrass closes one door of space exploration for NASA to open another
Once More into the Deep
After having just recently retired a successful shuttle program NASA is once again looking into deep space (where no human has gone), only not to probe but to actually go. The spacecraft (currently labeled Orion) must first reach orbit before attempting a journey to mars. Nasa has designed what they call the S.L.S. or space launch system to perform this first critical task. Much like the space shuttle booster rockets, the S.L.S. will be assembled at the Michoud Assembly Facility and then transported to the launch location.
Larger Thrust and Scale
The S.L.S. will be more powerful than any other similar system Nasa has designed with an expected 8.4 million pounds of thrust at launch. This larger scale and thrust meant facility wide upgrades at the Michoud Assembly location would be required.
A Closer Launch Date
The task of removing the existing concrete silos, originally built for assembling the space shuttle booster rockets, to make way for larger SLS core stage assembly towers was estimated to take three months. The Bluegrass Companies were called in to regain schedule for the overall project by working shifts around the clock seven days a week to complete the demolition in a month. The entirety of this massive month long undertaking can be viewed in under 3 minutes in the below time lapse video.
This efficient work put NASA months ahead of schedule as the demolition of the existing structures were part of a synchronous process. Hopefully by 2030 another step will have been taken for man kind, and perhaps they might even need someone to perform D.W.S. out in the great unknown.
