Historic Saturn V Rocket & Space Shuttle Test Stands Removed | NASA Marshall

Historic Saturn V Rocket & Space Shuttle Test Stands Removed | NASA Marshall

On Jan. 10, 2026, two test stands at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center near Huntsville, Alabama,—the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility and the Dynamic Test Facility—were removed by carefully coordinated implosions. The demolition of these historic structures is part of a larger project that began in spring 2022, targeting several inactive structures as the Marshall Space Flight Center prepares for the next era of space exploration.

Learn more about these structures and their legacies here:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/nasa-marshall-prepares-for-demolition-of-historic-test-simulation-facilities/

Crews also began demolition in mid-December at the Marshall Space Flight Center's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, a facility built in the late 1960s that once enabled NASA astronauts and researchers to experience near-weightlessness. The facility was also used to conduct underwater testing of space hardware and practice runs for servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. The simulator was closed in 1997.

Marshall's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator allowed engineers and astronauts to develop hardware and to practice procedures in this tank from its completion in 1968 through its decommissioning in 1997. Marshall recognized the need for underwater simulations of extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) and developed three successively larger tanks for the purpose. The Neutral Buoyancy Simulator contributed significantly to the American crewed space program. Skylab, the Space Shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, and the International Space Station have all benefited from the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. Until Johnson Space Center constructed the Weightless Environment Test Facility in the mid-1970s, MSFC had the only NASA-owned test facility that allowed engineers and astronauts to become familiar with the dynamics of body motion under weightless conditions.

Learn more about NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center: https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/

Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Duration: 38 seconds
Capture Date: Jan. 10, 2026

#NASA #Space #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #NASAMarshall #MSFC #History #ISS #ApolloProgram #SkylabProgram #SaturnV #SaturnVRockets #Rockets #SpaceShuttleProgram #SpaceShuttles #Spacecraft #PropulsionStructuralTestFacility #DynamicTestFacility #NeutralBuoyancySimulator #NBS #RocketTestStands #Huntsville #Alabama #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video