Vehicle Assembly Building


The VAB viewed from the NASA parkway

The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is an iconic industrial building at the John F. Kennedy Space Center. It's designed to assemble pre-made rocket stages, spacecraft and related parts vertically onto a mobile launch platform. The Saturn V, Space Shuttle and Ares-I rockets have been assembled in the VAB, and the upcoming Space Launch System in late 2020.

Construction began in 1963, and was completed in 1966. It is 160 metres (525 feet) tall (716 feet (218.2 m) long and 518 feet (157.9 m) wide), made from aproximately 100,000 tons of steel, and contains 3,665,000 m3 of internal volume.

The VAB has four large assembly areas called high bays, with one huge central aisle where the rocket parts are loaded in.

The Launch Control Center is adjascent to the side of the building, with a walkway connecting both buildings. The NASA logo and American flags are the largest painted facades in the world.


Vehicle Assembly Building Media