The mobile launcher platform that will serve as an embarkation point later this year for shuttle Atlantis is making a move to the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building.
Mounted atop a giant crawler transporter, the MLP departed Launch Complex 39B earlier today at a speed of about 1 mph and now is closing in on the VAB.
Its specific destination: VAB High Bay 2, a storage area that also outfitted to serve as an emergency hurricane shelter for fully assembled shuttles. The bay is located on the southwest corner of the 52-story building.
The MLP will be moved to VAB High Bay 2 around May 24, or five days after a fully assembled shuttle Discovery vacates it and heads out to launch pad 39B.
NASA contractor technicians will begin stacking solid rocket booster segments on the platform around June 2.
Atlantis is tentatively scheduled for launch Aug. 28 on a mission during which NASA aims to resume construction of the half-built International Space Station.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
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