famous Mobile Launcher Platform-2 , which has been associated with the Apollo and Space Shuttle, is set to be demolished.
As collectSpace reports , the space research company has decided to turn its platform into a parking lot for vehicles .
Thus, in a few weeks, the Mobile Launcher-2, also known as MLP-2, will now be a thing of the past.
The historic launch platform was built more than 50 years ago and played a significant role in notable NASA missions such as Apollo 12 and 14 (both lunar missions), Skylab (the predecessor of the International Space Station) and every inaugural launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Also, although disputed, the MLP-2 was the platform from which the tragic Challenger aircraft was launched in 1986. Overall, the MLP-2 participated in more than 50 launches from 1968 to 2011. Thus, a great history has been written in this 160 meter long, 41 meter wide and 7.5 meter tall structure.
As Robert Pearlman from collectSPACE reports, NASA decided to demolish the platform for a reason that is extremely disappointing.
Given its history, «it was expected that MLP-2 would be retired as an art museum», wrote Pearlman, or that «it could continue to serve some purpose, as the two other launch platforms of Apollo and shuttle legacy mobile launch.” But as Scott Tenhoff, who has taken on the demolition project of MLP-2, said, the space agency is shedding the platform «because parking spots are running out».
As Pearlman correctly points out, NASA has two similar platforms, the MLP-1 (formerly ML-3) and the MLP-3 (formerly ML-1). Built between 1963 and 1965, these three platforms were created for the Saturn V, Saturn IB and Saturn INT-21 rockets. After Apollo, the structures were transformed, renamed and put into use for the Space Transportation Program.
But NASA is now entering a new era and the old platform cannot support the weight of the upcoming massive launch tower, Space Launch System, according to collectSPACE. For this purpose, NASA completed a new platform in 2018 named ML-1 and began construction of a second one, which will be called ML-2, last year.
Currently, MLP-1 and MLP-3 are not slated for demolition and MLP-1 is still being used to prepare the routes taken by the launchers to the launch pad, for the upcoming Space Launch System. MLP-1 will ensure that the “path is strong enough to support the weight for the upcoming launch @NASAArtemis I”, which could take place later this year.
The demolition process is expected to take about a month.
Before proceeding with the demolition of Mobile Launcher-2, NASA had asked if anyone was interested in salvaging pieces of the giant structure, including the Smithsonian, but received no response.
Certainly storing this gigantic structure in a museum is something that could not be frozen, however we hope that some smaller pieces will be saved to remind future generations of the historic platform.
