One of NASA's three iconic mobile launch platforms, which supported Apollo missions and U.S. space shuttle launches, is now being demolished due to a lack of buyers and insufficient parking space.
Between 1963 and 1965, Ingalls Iron Works constructed these three mobile platforms to transport and support launches of NASA's Saturn V and Saturn IB rockets. Following the Apollo program, they were refurbished to handle space shuttle missions.
For the Artemis program, aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon, these aging platforms proved incapable of bearing the combined weight of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its launch tower. This led to the completion of a new mobile launcher, ML-1, in 2018, with construction on another beginning in July 2020.
Enter Mobile Launch Pad-2 (MLP-2), which carried the Apollo 14 crew toward the Moon. Fifteen years later, on January 28, 1986, it supported the space shuttle Challenger's fateful launch, which disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff, claiming all seven crew members.
Over its career, MLP-2 facilitated 51 missions from 1968 to 2011. Despite its rich legacy, no museum or alternative use emerged, prompting NASA to proceed with demolition—a decision aided by the agency's need for additional parking space.
Fortunately, the other two platforms are spared. MLP-1 is currently loaded with concrete blocks to mimic the SLS rocket and umbilical tower's mass, preparing the crawler tracks for future heavy loads. It will then be stored in High Bay 1 for eventual reuse.
MLP-3, which supported Apollo 11—the first Moon landing—and the final shuttle mission (STS-135), was briefly modified by Northrop Grumman for OmegA rocket launches. It will soon join High Bay 2 for potential future applications.
