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The Mobile Launcher is a moving platform that will transfer the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) Space Launch System from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad. The $1 billion tower is one of the tallest structures in the Cape Canaveral area, and NASA originally built it for the Ares 1 rocket, a single-booster launcher that was cancelled in 2010 before it ever flew on an orbital mission. The rollout of the Mobile Launcher to pad 39B this week caps nine months of electrical and mechanical testing inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. After checking the platform and tower’s compatibility with the VAB,...

US says North Korean missile launch was a 'catastrophic' failure By The Associated Press | Posted Apr 15th, 2016 @ 6:31pm WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is describing a North Korean missile launch today as a "catastrophic" failure. The launch was meant to celebrate the birthday of the country's founder. But a South Korean news agency says the missile exploded in the air just a few seconds after liftoff. It was reportedly a new and powerful type of mid-range missile. A Pentagon spokesman says it appears to have been fired from a mobile launcher, since the location of the launch...

Beijing upgrades nuclear arsenal By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Published: May 25 2007 20:21 | Last updated: May 25 2007 20:21 China is modernising and expanding its arsenal of nuclear weapons giving it an enhanced nuclear strike capability, according to a new Pentagon report on the Chinese military. The Pentagon said China was developing mobile, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles in addition to long-range, submarine-launched ballistic missiles that would be deployed on a new fleet of nuclear submarines. ADVERTISEMENT A US defence official said the shift to mobile and sea-based missiles was an effort by the People’s Liberation Army to improve...