F-1 Engine Test Stand (Demolition as of July 2012)

The first stop in the West Test Area on my July 2012 visit to MSFC was the S-IC Test Stand. I found out that the F-1 Test Stand was undergoing demolition when I first surveyed it from one of the S-IC Test Stand platforms.

I later found out that the test stand had been undergoing demolition since 2011; by the time I visited, the flame deflector and much of its associated plumbing had been removed. I later received photos, taken in March 2009, documenting the test stand prior to the start of demolition. The test stand's final demolition took place on November 30, 2012. The stand's propellant tanks were removed shortly after my 2012 visit, in August 2012, and stored elsewhere in the West Test Area. I visited the stand's ruins in September 2013, when I was able to photograph the propellant tanks as well.

The F-1 Engine Test Stand was on the Historic American Buildings Survey. The survey includes a number of engineering-type drawings of the test stand, as well as an extensive essay on the history of the stand, the F-1 engine, and their place in the Space Race.

Between May 2014 and January 2017, NASA built a new stand to test the SLS rocket's fuel tank, Test Stand 4693 on the foundation of the former F-1 Test Stand. Construction information.

The location of the former F-1 stand is indicated on my MSFC overview. Finally, here's an aerial view of its former location (and the current location Test Stand 4693).

See my main F-1 Engine Test Stand page for additional information on the test stand itself.