#launch complex 39b

[nocternalrandomness]

Artemis II Launch: April 1st, 2026

[drikkes]

<strong>Artemis II Launch (NHQ202604010226) <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/">by NASA HQ PHOTO</a></strong>

[tatmanblue]

KSC-20260201-PH-JBS01_0097 by NASA Kennedy Via Flickr: The Moon rises behind NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Feb. 1,. 2026. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky NASA image use policy.

[rabbitcruiser]

STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board on January 28, 1986.    

[historical-spaceflight]

LC39B Orbiter Access Arm on display at Space Center Houston. Hundreds of Astronauts would walk this pathway to the Shuttle, before departing the Earth. 39B would support 53 shuttle missions over two decades. The walkway and white room were removed from pad 39B in 2009, and trucked to Space Center Houston in 2011 where it is on display behind the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at Independence Plaza.

[wigmund]

From NASA Image of the Day; September 5, 2018:

Along the Way to Launch Pad 39B

A truck sprays water to reduce the dust as NASA's crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) with the mobile launcher (ML) atop moves slowly along, on its trek to Launch Pad 39B on August 31, 2018, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. CT-2 will move the mobile launcher up to the surface of the pad where it will undergo a fit check, followed by several days of systems testing.

The 380-foot-tall mobile launcher is equipped with the crew access arm and several umbilicals that will provide power, environmental control, pneumatics, communication and electrical connections to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft. Exploration Ground Systems is preparing the ground systems necessary to launch SLS and Orion on Exploration Mission-1, missions to the Moon and on to Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston

[nocternalrandomness]

Ready for the wet dress rehearsal

[rabbitcruiser]

STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board on January 28, 1986.