Saturn V dynamic test stand, also known as dynamic structural test facility, at the

George C. Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first ...

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

is the test stand used for testing of the

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with three stages, and powered with liquid fuel. It was flown from 196 ...

rocket and the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

prior to the vehicles' first flights. Designated building 4550, it stands tall and is square. Its central bay has maximum dimensions of , and it is topped by a

derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...

capable of moving 200-ton objects in a radius. An elevator provides access to 15 levels in the structure, and a cable tunnel connects the building to control facilities in the space center's East Test Area. NASA built the test stand in 1964 to conduct mechanical and vibrational tests on the fully assembled

rocket. Major problems capable of causing failure of the vehicle were discovered and corrected here. The new building was so tall that in 1966 when the Saturn V first stage was entering, an observer noted, "Fog and clouds hovered around the top of the tall test stand most of the day while the stage was being lifted from its transporter into place inside the stand, said to be the tallest building in Alabama." quoted in The stand was used to test how spacecraft behaved when put under vibrating and bending stresses, and to test the connections between major stages of the craft. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1985 for its role in the Saturn V program. and In addition to the Saturn V dynamic test vehicle, designated SA-500D, two

test vehicles, ''

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'' and ''

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'', were also tested in this facility. Space Shuttle Pathfinder OV-098 original configuration.jpg, The Space Shuttle Orbiter simulator is hoisted into the Saturn V dynamic test stand in 1977 Dynamic Structural Test Facility.jpg, The Shuttle ''Enterprise'' is loaded into the Saturn V dynamic test stand for a shake test, c. 1978

References

External links

*
Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
{{NASAMSFC National Historic Landmarks in Alabama Marshall Space Flight Center National Register of Historic Places in Huntsville, Alabama

See also

References

External links