Kennedy Space Center, Florida, June 3, 2009--At Launch Pad 39B, a crane removes the "beanie cap," or oxygen vent hood, and other mechanisms from the pad's fixed service structure.

The pad is being decommissioned as a space shuttle launch site. Instead, it will serve the Ares I-X test launch vehicle.

Ares I-X, the test version of the NASA Constellation Program's expendable, high-powered Ares I rocket, is slated to launch in August at Pad 39B. Ares I has been designed to replace the space shuttle and to take astronauts to the moon via the Orion crew capsule.