24 Apr 2025

The tower of NASA’s mobile launcher 2 continues to rise with the addition of two new 40-foot-tall modules on April 22 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mobile launcher 2 team, led by Bechtel National Inc., has integrated modules 6 and 7, which are the third and fourth of seven sections that will form the mobile launcher’s almost 400-foot-tall tower structure. The mobile launcher currently is under construction next to the spaceport’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building.

Assembled from innovative cast steel and outfitted with a range of equipment and utilities, teams integrated the modules and the growing launcher after the sections completed the journey from the mobile launcher 2 team’s module assembly yard. The 80 feet of height the modules added to mobile launcher now put the structure’s height at 276 feet, adding a new feature to the Kennedy skyline.

Module 6 is designed to support the vehicle stabilizer, an interface that helps reduce motion of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during rollout to the launch pad, in high wind events, and during launch countdown. The stabilizer will drop away from the larger SLS Block 1 B rocket at liftoff and is designed to support future SLS configurations and their varying load requirements.

Module 7 is the tower’s payload accommodation subsystem which will serve as the interface between SLS payloads and NASA Kennedy’s Launch Control Center, allowing the launch team to monitor, test, and issue commands to the SLS rocket and Orion flight hardware. Located within an air-conditioned steel shell and protected by launch-rated shock isolators, this subsystem also will provide payload access for personnel during pre- and post-launch operations.

Once complete, mobile launcher 2 will reach 390 feet and provide the support needed for the addition of the SLS Exploration Upper Stage for the Block 1B configuration of the rocket that will launch beginning with the Artemis IV mission.

NASA and its partners are developing the foundational systems needed for long-term exploration at the Moon for the benefit of all as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign. 

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NASA’s mobile launcher 2 team, led by contractor Bechtel National Inc., integrated Module 7 onto the mobile launcher under construction near the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Each module is 40 feet tall and once complete will rise to 390 feet to provide ground support to launch for the SLS (Space Launch System) Block 1B variant rocket during launch of the Artemis IV mission.