The SAC collar shuffle

The dome crane had to be inspected & load-tested before being used to lift anything too interesting...

Then the SAC was carefully wheeled out of the clean room & parked in the loading bay. 

There it could be reached with the dome crane, which was attached to the aluminium ring of the NRS simulator.

The ring was detached from the simulator & the SAC lifted out.

This offered a great opportunity to take a good look inside & some people who've been missing from the real world for a long time slipped out through the hole in M3...

Ah Yes - SAC Man, one of the lesser-known superheroes of our time!

The terrestrial receiver was wheeled into position after plates had been bolted on underneath the steel collar.  The SAC was then lowered into the receiver & the plates bolted to the SAC installation ring.

At this stage the SAC was being supported by its steel collar so then the bearings between the steel & aluminium collars could be removed.  This allowed the aluminium collar (still attached to the aluminium ring of the NRS simulator) to be lifted off & prepared for its new home up on the payload.

Securely mounted in the terrestrial receiver, the SAC was wheeled back into the clean room where it was left to contemplate its future while the team set off in search of celebratory beverages...