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Vehicle Assembly Building he Assembly Building, or VAB, is a national Its role as a central hub for NASA’s premiere Tlandmark that remains a central element of NASA’s remains secure as plans move ahead to plans to launch people and equipment deep into space outfit the building to host several different kinds of on missions of exploration. Built at NASA’s and at the same time. Whether Space Center in , it remains the only building to those craft are going into or being sent into assemble a that carried humans to the surface deep space, the VAB will have the infrastructure to of another world. For 30 years it served as the final prepare them correctly for their missions. assembly point for a as the was The craft include NASA’s System, or attached to an external fuel tank and solid rocket SLS, a rocket and spacecraft similar to the / boosters for launch. V the VAB was originally built to support. The The structure was completed in 1966 for the SLS will use many derived from the space

assembly of the Apollo/ rocket, the shuttle, however, and will be larger than the 1960s-era facts largest rocket made by humans. The building was Saturn V. The spacecraft that will top the rocket is constructed 3.5 from 39A and also larger than its Apollo ancestor. 4.2 miles from Launch Pad 39B. A pair of crawler- The Ground Systems Development and Operations transporters, some of the largest machines ever to Program is leading an extensive refurbishment of move on land, were used to carry the completed one of ’s unique facilities. The rockets to the pad. modernization calls for a flexible setting inside the VAB NASA

NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at in Florida was used to assemble and house American-crewed launch from 1968 to 2011. At 3,664,883 cubic meters, it is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume. rather than configuring the whole building toward supporting one design. MORE ONLINE Part of the effort includes removing For more information on the Ground Systems about 150 miles of Apollo/shuttle-era Development and Operations Program, go to http://go.nasa.gov/groundsystems cabling from high bays 1 and 3 to make room for installation of future state-of- components and equipment to be rolled the-art command, communication, and into the building, lifted and assembled on control systems that will be needed by a specialized platform that is taken to the future users to perform vehicle testing and launch pad. verification prior to rollout to the launch There are five overhead cranes inside pad. the VAB, including two that can hold 325 Future work also will replace the tons. These are critical to picking up the antiquated communications, power and heaviest elements of rockets and placing vehicle access resources with modern, NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building under construction them carefully into position ahead of efficient systems. Some of the utilities and with the and service towers as launch. Often operated from cabs near systems slated for replacement have been seen from across the turn basin Jan. 5, 1965. the VAB’s ceiling, the cranes are precise used since the VAB opened in 1965. massive facility. The flag and logo were enough to lower an object onto an egg One of the largest buildings in the world repainted as part of the refurbishment on without cracking it. by area, the VAB covers eight acres, is 525 the building. Combining established capabilities with feet tall and 518 feet wide. It is made up The tallest portion of the VAB is called modern needs is the primary goal as the of 65,000 cubic yards of concrete and its the high bay. It encloses four vertical world’s famous landmark of space frame is constructed from 98,590 tons corridors, each with a door 456 feet high. exploration is refitted for of steel. It stands atop a support base of The doors are the largest in the world and work. 4,225 steel pilings driven 164 feet into take about 45 minutes to completely open bedrock. or close. The building also is home to the largest The lower structure has large areas American flag, a 209-foot-tall, 110-foot- of its own that are used to store rocket wide star spangled banner painted on the components until they are needed. A side of the VAB. A 12,300-square-foot transfer aisle down the center of the VAB NASA logo also adorns the side of the connects the bays, allowing massive

A Saturn V rocket rolls out of NASA’s Vehicle Suspended in the Vehicle Assembly Building at An artist’s illustration shows how the interior of High Assembly Building on the crawler-transporter Aug. 1, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building will look after 1967, for the mission as seen from across Discovery is lowered toward the solid rocket boosters modifications are made to host the Space Launch the turn basin. and external fuel tank on , 2005. System, a rocket as large as the Saturn V.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899 www..gov

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