Crane replacement work at space station

Specialist equipment and services supplied by international heavy lift and transportation company Sarens have been used to remove an old 27 tonne capacity High Bay crane and install a new 30 tonne capacity High Bay crane at the John F. Kennedy space station, Merritt Island, Florida, USA.

The work is part of preparations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Artemis II mission which aims to launch around autumn 2023.

The crane replacement work took place in the Operations Checkout building. The new crane, along with two others, and it will be used to support heavy lifts throughout the Artemis II mission.

As there was very little headroom available in the building Sarens was unable to lift the old crane out from above; instead it used a hydraulic lift to replace the equipment from underneath. Teams were able to utilise the old crane for one final lift in order to install the new crane and then assisted in the decommissioning of the older model.

Sarens carried out the project in several phases and completed the removal and installation successfully and on schedule.

A video of the job, released by NASA, can be seen here: