With the Artemis II mission preparation underway at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Sarens was brought in to support the crane replacement in the Operations Checkout Building onsite at the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Sarens’ hydraulic lifter unit was employed to complete this job at the site of one of NASA’s most prestigious projects which seeks to put the first woman and next man on the moon in hopes to eventually create a sustainable path to landing on Mars.
Mission Background
The Artemis II mission will include a crew made up of both American and Canadian astronauts as part of a 2020 treaty between the two countries and will launch around fall 2023. It’s set to be the first mission to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972 and will follow its sister project, Artemis I, which is set for launch this November.
The three-part mission seeks to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon to explore the lunar surface more than ever before. The groundbreaking program began in 2017 and, if successful, will be the catalyst for future space travel in the United States.
Sarens Does the Heavy Lifting
The scope of Sarens’ work at the space center was to remove the old 27T High Bay crane that had already been in place in order to install a new 30T High Bay crane which features a greater lifting capacity and enhanced controls. Sarens team distributed the project into several phases and completed the removal and installation successfully and on schedule.
The crane, which is situated in the Operations Checkout building alongside two others, will be used to support heavy lifts throughout the Artemis II mission, helping to lift the Orion spacecraft and performing other operations as the crew prepares for takeoff.
Sarens was selected for this project due to the complexities of the lifts required. With no headroom available to allow a crane to perform the lifts from above, Sarens opted for a hydraulic lift to replace the equipment from underneath. Teams were able to utilize the old crane for one final lift in order to install the new crane and then assisted in the decommissioning of the older model.
Project manager Steve Gibson of Sarens stated, “We were brought on by American Crane & Equipment Corporation, who we’ve been working alongside since 2008, and are honored to have taken part in such an important project. NASA provided tremendous support and we’re certain that the Artemis II mission will have an enormous impact on future space travel.”
With its work on Artemis II, Sarens adds to its vast repertoire of high profile projects, such as the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in England which is currently being featured in a BBC documentary series, and is preparing for involvement in other such projects in the coming months.
NASA’s coverage of this job can be viewed here.
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
