{"id":10248,"date":"2022-04-21T04:58:54","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T04:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/?p=10248"},"modified":"2022-04-20T15:05:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T15:05:20","slug":"caldwell-moon-lander-cradle-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/caldwell-moon-lander-cradle-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Caldwell Moon Lander Cradle Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A customized 2,500-lb. capacity transport cradle for a lunar lander, manufactured by The Caldwell Group Inc.<\/a>, has arrived in Houston. There, Intuitive Machines will complete the next stage of testing before the lander, Nova-C, will be sent to the Moon.<\/p>\n

When complete, the lander requires highly customized transportation to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KS) in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where it will be launched by a Spacex Falcon 9 rocket. The short and long base assemblies designed by Caldwell<\/a>, delivered by distributor Kennedy Wire Rope & Sling Company Inc., meet Nova-C\u2019s requirements for safe transport.<\/p>\n

Prior to sending the first cradle onto the next stage of the process, an in-person inspection by Greg Vajdos, integrated test and verification lead at Intuitive Machines; Brian Johnson, senior mechanical design lead, CSWPA at Iron Ring Technologies; and Dan Mongan, senior sales engineer\/project leader at Caldwell<\/a> had to be completed.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Left to right: Brian Johnson, senior mechanical design lead, CSWPA at Iron Ring Technologies; Greg Vajdos, integrated test and verification lead at Intuitive Machines; and Dan Mongan, senior sales engineer \/ project leader at Caldwell.<\/p><\/div>\n

The general review of the product before shipment took place in late March at Caldwell<\/a>\u2019s facility in Rockford, Illinois, only once Mongan had overseen the final stages of polishing. He explained that a final inspection was necessary to make sure that the product left the facility to complete customer satisfaction. It was signed off and boarded a dedicated truck for the trip to Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cNova-C is Intuitive Machines\u2019 opportunity to return the United States to the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972,\u201d said Vajdos. \u201cThe Caldwell<\/a> stand is an essential piece to accomplishing our mission and we\u2019re confident that Nova-C will be safely transported to KSC for launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Intuitive Machines will complete the next stage of testing before the lander, Nova-C, will be sent to the Moon.<\/p><\/div>\n

Next, Intuitive Machines will use a \u201cNova-C mass simulator\u201d to load test, and rehearse loading, unloading, and rotation operations. This test will provide complete assurance that the cradle will serve its purpose on the final trip to Florida. Mongan will be in Houston for that process.<\/p>\n

Chris Berland, of RiggRep, a manufacturer\u2019s representative for Caldwell<\/a>, has been involved with the project from the outset, making initial site visits to Intuitive\u00a0Machines, upon consultation with Vajdos.<\/p>\n

He recalled: \u201cGreg and I had the initial, exploratory discussions of how to safely lift, manipulate, and transport the lunar lander between three different locations\u2014their facility, the Spacex site in Florida, and the test site.\u201d<\/p>\n

A program was planned that started with the equipment that was required at each location (e.g., overhead cranes, hoists, overhead clearance, mobile cranes, forklifts, rigging, etc.) and the potential restrictions or limitations (e.g., bay door dimensions, DOT specifications, timeframe, budgets). However, the “elephant in the room,\u201d as Berland called it, was that there was no standard piece of equipment that could safely lift, manipulate, and transport the lunar lander.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The customized 2,500-lb. capacity transport cradle has arrived in Houston.<\/p><\/div>\n

Berland continued: \u201cI showed Greg a standard Caldwell<\/a> coil upender to discuss the functionality, and this led to a napkin sketch of the first concept of what an upending, transport cradle for a lunar lander might look like. This information was conveyed to Dan, and this is where the talented engineers from both Caldwell<\/a> and Intuitive took the wheel and began having the first of many discussions on how to bring the project to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCaldwell<\/a>\u2019s on-time delivery of Intuitive Machines\u2019 lunar lander transport cradle affords us the time needed to test and rehearse loading and unloading procedures,\u201d said Vajdos. \u201cFrom design to delivery, the collaboration between Intuitive Machines and Caldwell<\/a> will ensure Nova-C is transported from Houston to Cape Canaveral safely before launching to the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

RiggRep\u2019s Berland said: \u201cThe nature of the product and its ultimate destination certainly\u00a0made this project unique. It’s not too often we have a looming \u2018launch date\u2019 to deal with in our world,\u00a0but we enjoyed both the challenges and the opportunity. We’re excited to view\u00a0the\u00a0equipment in action. It was an honor to be approached to assist with this project. It speaks volumes to Caldwell<\/a>‘s reputation and ability to offer creative solutions for challenging applications. The project was both meaningful and interesting, and I am confident to say everyone involved learned something. The can-do attitude of Caldwell<\/a> is contagious\u2014and I am proud to be part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A customized 2,500-lb. capacity transport cradle for a lunar lander, manufactured by The Caldwell Group Inc., has arrived in Houston. There, Intuitive Machines will complete the next stage of testing before the lander, Nova-C, will be sent to the Moon. When complete, the lander requires highly customized transportation to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KS) in… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,10],"tags":[4011,7264,7260,7263,7259,7258,7261,6948,1572,6951,7262],"class_list":["post-10248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-featured","category-news","tag-caldwell","tag-greg-vajdos","tag-intuitive-machines","tag-iron-ring-technologies","tag-kennedy-wire-rope","tag-kennedy-wire-rope-sling-company","tag-lunar-lander","tag-moon-lander","tag-nasa","tag-nova-c","tag-riggrep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCaldwell Moon Lander Cradle Testing - Find A Distributor Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/caldwell-moon-lander-cradle-testing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Caldwell Moon Lander Cradle Testing - Find A Distributor Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A customized 2,500-lb. capacity transport cradle for a lunar lander, manufactured by The Caldwell Group Inc., has arrived in Houston. 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