Michoud Assembly Facility

The Michoud Assembly Facility is an 832 acre (3.4 km²) site owned by NASA and located in eastern New Orleans, Louisiana. It is used for the construction of the Space Shuttle's External tanks by its lead contractor Lockheed Martin. It is one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world with 43 acres (174,000 m²) under one roof and employs 2000 people.

The facility was originally constructed in 1940 by the United States government for the war production during World War II to make plywood cargo planes and landing craft. During the Korean War it made engines for Sherman and Patton tanks.

It came under the management of the NASA in 1961 and was used for the construction of the S-IC first stage of the Saturn V rocket and the S-IB first stage of the Saturn IB rocket. It is home to the first stage of the last constructed Saturn V, SA-515.

External link

• Michoud Operations
• GlobalSecurity.org