Vehicle Assembly Building

Vehicle Assembly Building
The Artemis 1 Space Launch System vehicle rolling out from the VAB at Kennedy Space Center
Vehicle Assembly Building is located in Florida
Vehicle Assembly Building
Location within Florida
Vehicle Assembly Building is located in the United States
Vehicle Assembly Building
Vehicle Assembly Building (the United States)
Former namesVertical Assembly Building
General information
TypeIntegration facility
Town or cityBrevard County, Florida
CountryUnited States
Coordinates28°35′11″N 80°39′5″W / 28.58639°N 80.65139°W / 28.58639; -80.65139
Completed1966
OwnerNASA
Height526 ft (160 m)
Dimensions
Diameter716 ft × 518 ft (218 m × 158 m)
Technical details
Floor count1
Floor area8 acres (32,000 m2)
Design and construction
Main contractorMorrison-Knudsen
Vehicle Assembly Building
LocationKennedy Space Center Florida, U.S.
Nearest cityTitusville
Area8 acres (3 ha)
Built1966
Architecthttps://www.urbahn.com
Architectural styleIndustrial
MPSJohn F. Kennedy Space Center MPS
NRHP reference No.99001642[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 21, 2000

The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V, the Space Shuttle and the Space Launch System, and stack them vertically onto one of three mobile launcher platforms used by NASA. As of March 2022, the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was assembled inside in preparation for the Artemis 1 mission,[2] launched on November 16, 2022.

At 129,428,000 cu ft (3,665,000 m3), it is the eighth-largest building in the world by volume as of 2022.[3] The building is at Launch Complex 39 at KSC, 149 miles (240 km) south of Jacksonville, 219 miles (352 km) north of Miami, and 50 miles (80 km) due east of Orlando, on Merritt Island on the Atlantic coast of Florida.[3]

The VAB is the largest single-story building in the world,[4] was the tallest building (526 ft or 160 m) in Florida until 1974,[5] and is the tallest building in the United States outside an urban area.[6]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System – (#99001642)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ Barker, Nathan; Gebhardt, Chris (March 17, 2022). "NASA moon rocket SLS rolls out to "rebuilt" LC-39B ahead of Artemis 1 rehearsal". NASASpaceFlight.com. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  3. ^ a b NASA (1999). "Vehicle Assembly Building". NASA. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  4. ^ "Groundbreaking Digital Experience for Endeavour Shuttle Launch" (Press release). Redmond, Washington: Microsoft. August 5, 2007. Archived from the original on November 29, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  5. ^ Taylor, George Lansing (September 20, 1988). "NASA Vehicle Assembly Building, Cape Canaveral, FL". UNF Digital Commons. University of North Florida. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  6. ^ Aguiar, Laura (January 10, 2020). "The Many Stories of the VAB" (PDF). Spaceport Magazine. Vol. 7, no. 1. NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 19, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2023.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search