Cyro Testing at ML, Pad 39B

From left, liquid oxygen engineers Josh Jones, Jim Loup and Rene DeLaCruz on Kennedy Space Center’s Test Operations and Support Contract inspect equipment surrounding the liquid oxygen storage tank at Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 8, 2019. The agency’s Exploration Ground Systems oversaw testing of the pad’s cryogenic systems – the infrastructure that will support the flow of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the storage tanks to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket – in preparation for the launch of SLS with the Orion spacecraft atop for the uncrewed Artemis I mission. Each of the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks can hold more than 800,000 gallons of propellant. The liquid oxygen will require the use of pumps to push it from the tank to the rocket, while the lighter liquid hydrogen will make its way up to the pad using gaseous hydrogen to pressurize the sphere.

From left, liquid oxygen engineers Josh Jones, Jim Loup and Rene DeLaCruz on Kennedy Space Center’s Test Operations and Support Contract inspect equipment surrounding the liquid oxygen storage tank at Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 8, 2019. The agency’s Exploration Ground Systems oversaw testing of the pad’s cryogenic systems – the infrastructure that will support the flow of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the storage tanks to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket – in preparation for the launch of SLS with the Orion spacecraft atop for the uncrewed Artemis I mission. Each of the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks can hold more than 800,000 gallons of propellant. The liquid oxygen will require the use of pumps to push it from the tank to the rocket, while the lighter liquid hydrogen will make its way up to the pad using gaseous hydrogen to pressurize the sphere.

Photographer NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Album Kennedy_Testing_for_Artemis_I
ArtemisCryoEGSExploration Ground SystemsLH2LO2MLPad 39B