NEW: The rocket test stand on the arsenal to be removed

Marshall Space Flight Center has announced plans for a large-scale update to its campus which includes the removal of several pieces of space history including the rocket test stands and the neutral buoyancy tank.

The plans will also expand the campus in the coming decade.

The rocket test stand

6517812orig — Lowering the s-IB 200D dynamic test vehicle Into the Dynamic test tower. (NASA)

7890776orig — Removal of orbiter from test stand after first tests. (NASA)

At one point, the rocket test stand at Marshall (formally called the Dynamic Test Stand) was the largest structure in Alabama.

At 363 feet tall the rocket test stand is viewable throughout parts of Huntsville (you might have seen it off in the distance from the parkway).

The test stand was used during the Apollo era to test fully constructed Saturn 5 rockets and later during the shuttle program to test the various shuttles and tanks (both pictured above).

The campus update also includes the removal of the neutral buoyancy tank, a 1.3 million gallon tank that was used to simulate near weightlessness.

What’s next?

MSFC 011519 SLS LH2 Lift 7large — The Space Launch System (SLS) liquid hydrogen tank structural test article is loaded into Test Stand 4693 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Jan. 14, 2019. The 149-foot piece of test hardware is the largest piece of structural hardware for the SLS core stage for America’s new deep space rocket It is structurally identical to the flight version of the tank. These tests will help ensure designs are adequate for successful SLS missions to the Moon and beyond. (Tyler Martin / NASA)

The old infrastructure is expensive to maintain and in this modern day, obsolete. In all, 19 structures will be removed or replaced.

“The upkeep of aging facilities is costly, and we have to put our funding where it does the most good for NASA’s mission. These are tough choices, but we have to prioritize function and cost over nostalgia. We’re making way for what’s next.”
Marshall master planner Justin Taylor

The rocket test stands and other structures have been thoroughly documented and preserved in photographic and written records which will be made available to the public through the Library of Congress’s permanent Historic American Engineering Record Collection.

The demolitions should take place throughout next year and the campus plans to add several large-scale 50,000-120,000 square foot facilities to the campus over the next decade.

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