WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

An Iowa Northern locomotive contracted by Goodloe Transportation of Chicago, carrying the first of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, continues along the railroad tracks to the gate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pathfinder booster segments, which are inert, will be delivered to the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF). Inside the RPSF, the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and industry partners will conduct a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations using the booster segments to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars