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Welcome to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

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We’re here on top of the mobile launcher
tower, more than 400 feet off the ground.

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The beach is right there, it’s super windy,
you can hear construction noise because this

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is a construction zone.

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I’m Joshua Santora, and today I’m going
to give you a behind the scenes look at some

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of the work being done to prepare for the
Artemis program.

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At the heart of that program are the Space
Launch System, SLS, or heavy-lift rocket;

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the Orion crew capsule; and Exploration Ground
Systems - they’re responsible for all of

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the infrastructure to actually launch.

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Today’s tour will take a closer look at
infrastructure like this tower and the pad

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that it’s sitting on.

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Be sure to enjoy the view and look around
wherever we go.

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All right, let’s hit it.

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You’re now looking at the world’s largest
single-story building and through the open

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high bay doors, you can see the mobile launcher
we were just standing on.

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I don’t want you to take for granted the
size of this building.

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The Statue of Liberty on her pedestal are
shorter than that tower.

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And we don’t call it mobile for nothing.

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We’re going to fast forward a bit to after
that mobile launcher has been carried out

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to the launch pad.

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Here we go.

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After the 11-million-pound mobile launcher
completes the journey out here to the pad,

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which takes about 8 hours.

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This is the view from the deck where the Space
Launch System, or SLS, will be stacked.

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If the rocket were here, you’d be looking
straight ahead at the main engines.

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The hole below those for the exhaust is just
in front of you and towering overhead is the

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actual tower that will provide fuel, power,
communication and crew access from the ground

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to the vehicle through what we call umbilicals.

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Remember, you don’t just need to provide
necessary assets to one rocket; each stage

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is essentially its own rocket.

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You have to provide fuel to each stage.

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Each stage needs power.

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Each stage has sensor data that has to be
shared.

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And then you have to account for the fact
that a 322-foot-tall rocket is going to sway

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a little.

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You need an arm to help hold it in place but
still allow it to shift some.

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That movement is all understood and expected
based on the detailed engineering analysis

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done by the NASA team.

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Once the rocket rolls out here, there should
only be about a week of work before we’re

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ready to launch.

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When we get to launch day, there’s a ton
of work being done both here and in the Launch

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Control Center to actually fly this thing
into space.

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Let’s head up and have a closer look at
the tower.

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If you’re afraid of heights, don’t look
down.

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The umbilicals I mentioned a minute ago are
actually giant steel structures like the one

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we’re hanging off the side of now, the crew
access arm.

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Another major umbilical is for the Interim
Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that you can see

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below us on the tower.

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It’s like a two story tall steel structure
that has to disconnect all of its connection

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points safely without breaking them so they
can reused, and then swing that 70,000-pound

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arm more than 90 degrees to be clear of the
rocket, and do it all in under 4 seconds.

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That is some impressive engineering.

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In addition to the beautiful landscape, you
probably noticed those two giant towers.

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Those are two of the three towers that make
up the lightning protection system for the

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launch pad area.

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They’re each 600 feet tall.

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One of the most important reasons we’re
talking about this rocket at all, is the ability

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to transport humans deeper into space than
ever before.

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Let’s get a close look at where our astronauts
will be boarding the Orion spacecraft.

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When NASA astronauts enter this White Room
to climb aboard Orion, they do so knowing

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that there are thousands and thousands of
men and women who have worked for years to

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prepare, build, test and have confidence in
the world’s most powerful rocket.

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On launch day, that yellow cargo net and covering
behind it won’t be there, and instead they’ll

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be looking down into the crew capsule.

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As the astronauts take their last steps on
Earth right here before blasting off into

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space, they know they’re taking another
giant leap for all mankind.

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And this giant leap brings us all one step
closer to pioneering other worlds.

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We hope you’ll continue to track our progress
as we work towards the first woman and next

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man to walk on the moon.

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From KSC and for Exploration Ground Systems,
that’s all for today.

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Remember, we build, launch and recover for
the next evolution in humanity’s deep-space