Marshall Space Flight Center

Marshall Space Flight Center is the designated NASA center for propulsion and transportation systems. Historically, Marshall developed the Saturn family of boosters and worked on the propulsion technologies of the Space Shuttle. Marshall is currently developing the Ares I and Ares V boosters. Additionally, Marshall develops hardware and instruments for various scientific projects and supports the ISS.

For a time, Marshall oversaw a complete propulsion-based empire: In addition to MSFC proper, Marshall had responsibility for facilities for production (Michoud Assembly Facility), testing (Mississippi Test Facility and the computing facility in Slidell, Louisiana), and launching (the Launch Operations Directorate).

Over time, the Mississippi Test Facility became the Stennis Space Center and the Launch Operations Directorate became a full-fledged NASA center (first the Launch Operations Center and then the Kennedy Space Center). Today, the only other facility overseen by Marshall is the Michoud Assembly Facility.

Marshall has had several of its facilities designated as National Historic Landmarks.

I've visited Marshall three times. The first time was on a VIP tour in October 2008. This bus tour was not originally intended to have stops at the historic sites, although the tour was modified to allow us to get off the bus at the Static Test Tower. The weather that day was overcast and rainy (although the rain had all but stopped by the time of our first bus stop, and the sky cleared by the time of our last stop).

I visited again, in summer 2009, escorted by an active-duty military officer. We had a little more time at several of the stops and the weather was bright and sunny, but unfortunately the East and West Test Areas require an additional clearance which we did not have so I could not revisit those areas.

I visited in the summer of 2012, initially to see the disassembled F-1 engine. At the last minute, our hosts scrambled to arrange a tour which was initially to be of the Dynamic Test Stand but wound up being a complete tour of both the East and West Test Areas, including the tops of the Dynamic Test Stand and the S-IC test stand.

I've annotated an aerial overview of some of the Marshall test stands.