ARIANE6 MISSION WITH SCHLITZER PARTICIPATION

During the night of Saturday, February 13th, to Sunday, February 14th, 2021, the Schlitz-based heavy-lift professionals from CC Bäuml GmbH were once again part of a spectacular transport for ESA's European space development. The transport of the 127,000 hp engine of the ARIANE 6 rocket upper stage from the inland waterway transport dock in Bad Wimpfen, on the Neckar River, to the test center of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Lampoldshausen.

The transport was preceded by months of planning and weeks of reconstruction and preparation. Roundabouts had to be rebuilt or demolished, numerous traffic lights and streetlights had to be dismantled. Curve radii had to be enlarged with steel plates, and in some towns, no-parking zones were erected for kilometers.

On the night of the transport, we were on duty with a team of eight specialists using loading cranes, cherry pickers, and workshop vehicles to ensure the smooth transport of the 14m long, almost 7m wide, and 6m high transport container on its approximately 29-kilometer journey and, in the truest sense of the word, to "pave the way"... - and all this in icy temperatures of -19°C.

After a record-breaking journey of just over five hours (up to 10 hours were planned), the nearly 120-ton rocket transport safely reached its destination at the German Aerospace Center's test center in Lampoldshausen in the early morning hours of February 14, 2021. There, the advanced engine will undergo extensive testing over the next few months before powering the newly developed ARIANE 6 rocket.