nasa facts marshall space flight center, huntsville alabama

8/7/2019 NASA Facts Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville Alabama

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AN EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION OF THENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION - -l e e 0 1 1I TCI0-10/12-67 v) - -

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HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA WYzDevelopment of large launch vehicles such asSaturn V and spacecraft for deep space and near-earth missions and studies of future space explora-tion projeqts are the prime responsibilities of theMarshall Space Flight Center. Named for General

George C. Marshall, the Center is National Aero-nautics and Space Administrations largest installa-tion.

IThe joint responsibility of its more than 7,000employees is the development of large rockets, andthe development of spacecraft such as the OrbitalWorkshop which can sustain astronauts on missionsof up t o 58 days. Marshall Center scientists and en-gineers have designed many of this countrys rock-ets, including the Redstone, Jupiter, Saturn I , Up-rated Saturn I and Saturn V. They are presently lay-

These three modern office buildings house. more th an 2,000 employees of the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center. Thecenter building is a nine-story structure whlch contains the offices of MSFC Director Wernher von Braun and other keyofficials. It was completed in 1 96 3. The two six-story structures were completed in 1964 an d 1965.


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ing the groundwork for the Apollo Applications Pro-gram which will use the Apollo elements for othermanned missions in earth orbit. The future programwil l exploit the investment in the Apollo program byapplying its wide range of capabilities to a numberof other potential missions. The Orbital Workshop isa part of this effort.A CHANGING ROLE

Marshall earlier had the capability of developingand manufacturing launch vehicles almost entirelywithin its own facility. This work was done in severalmajor laboratories and manufacturing facilities. Tomaintain its role in the ever-expanding space ex-ploration picture, the Marshall Center organizationhas adjusted to a changing role. While the Centerstil l maintains its strength in the technical expertiseof the space team built up in its major laboratoriesover the years, management has taken into accountthe fact that its space assignments are now toobig to be handled in-house. As a result, to a muchlarger extent than before, work on the Saturn rock-ets and other missions is performed by industrythrough a series of prime contracts.The two major organizational elements of theMarshall Center are Research and Development Op-erations and Industrial Operations.Industrial Operations program offices serve asmanagement centers to administer contracts to p ri-vate industrial firms who assist with Marshall Centermissions. These offices must see that all the variouscomponents and stages are built to specificationsand will work together when assembled into com-plete vehicles.

It is the responsibility of Research and Develop-ment Operations to insure that the Marshall Centerremains expert in the basic aspects of space tech-nology. Industrial Operations provides the capabil-ity of managing the efforts of industry.OTHER FACILlTlES

Industrial Operations also directs two govern-ment-owned facilities that extend the manufacturingand testing capability of the Marshall Center:Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisi-ana, and Mississippi Test Facility located in Han-cock County, Mississippi. Although located in sepa-rate states, the two installations are only about45 water miles apart. Both are linked with the Mar-shall Center by water routes traveling over theMississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers.Michoud is the production site for rocket firststages for the Uprated Saturn I and the Saturn V.

Michouds manufacturing building is one of thelargest single-floor buildings in the country, cover-ing almost 43 acres. It is 1 5 miles east of downtownNew Orleans and located on the intracoastal waterroute.Mississippi Test Facility provides the rocket-test-ing stands, test control and support units, labora-tories, and an industrial complex capable of qc-ceptance testing both the first and second stades

An engineer examines an ApolloTelescope Mount mode l included in acluster of Apollo Appl ications payloads.The ATM is to be a manned solarobservatory to give scientists a look atthe sun above the earths atmosphere.Elements of the cluster include theApollo spacecraft, top, mapping andsurvey module, left, Sa turn I-IVBorbita l workshop, bottom, and the ATM.Large panels on the ATM and the S-IVBorbita l workshop depict the solar cellarrays to provide electric power forstays in space of a m ont h initially.


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of space vehicles is assured through checkout be-fore and after test firings.Research Projects-Scientific research of newconcepts in specified fields and studies of possiblefuture programs.Test-Experimental and developmental testipgprograms of launch vehicles, components, and othkrsystems.PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Marshall Center consists of about 1,800 acreswithin the 40,000 acre Redstone Arsenal locatedjust southwest of Huntsville in north-central Ala-bama. Total estimated value of real estate holdingsand government property is more than $300 million.The Center consists of more than 270 structuresand buildings with floor space totaling about fourmil lion square feet.

DIRECTOR: DR. WERNHER VON BRAUNGeorge C. Marshall Space Flight CenterNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationHuntsville, Alabama 35812

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nasa facts marshall space flight center, huntsville alabama

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