Mobile Launcher Platform 3

Space Shuttle Atlantis atop MLP-3 during rollout ahead of STS-110

Mobile Launcher Platform 3 or MLP-3, formerly Mobile Launcher 1 or ML-1 is one of three Mobile Launcher Platforms used at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was used for Saturn V and Saturn IB launches, and later for the Space Shuttle.

Saturn

A Saturn V with Apollo 11 atop is rolled out atop ML-1

MLP-3 was originally constructed between 1963 and 1964 as a Mobile Launcher for the Saturn V rocket, and was designated ML-1, or LUT-1. It was the first Mobile Launcher to be constructed, and was built by Ingalls Iron Works.^[1] The swing arms, which were constructed by Hayes International, were added at a later date.

A Saturn IB with ASTP using ML-1 with the Milkstool at LC-39B

The first launch from ML-1 was the maiden flight of the Saturn V, and the first launch from LC-39, Apollo 4. Following this, it was used for two manned Apollo launches: Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. After NASA decided to move Saturn IB launches from LC-34 to LC-39, it was modified by the addition of a structure known as the Milkstool, which allowed the Saturn IB to use the same Launch Umbilical Tower as the much larger Saturn V. Three manned flights to Skylab, and the Apollo launch for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, were conducted from ML-1 using the Milkstool.

Prior to the scrapping of the LUT in 2004, there was a campaign to rebuild and preserve it as a memorial to Project Apollo.^[2] The Crew access arm is preserved at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Space Shuttle

Following the launch of Skylab, ML-1 was the last Mobile Launcher to be converted for use by the Space Shuttle. The Launch Umbilical Tower and Milkstool were dismantled and placed into storage, and the base of the launch platform was modified to accommodate the locations of engines on the shuttle. The platform was redesignated MLP-3.

In total, MLP-3 was used for twenty-nine Shuttle launches, starting in 1990. It is the least used of the three Mobile Launcher Platforms.

Launch history

References