Vehicle Assembly Building John F Kennedy Space Center

Merritt Island, Florida
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded in 1958 with a brief to plan and conduct nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities and to develop international space programs. The 140,000-acre (56,658-hectare) John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island near Cape Canaveral, Florida, was originally established to support the Apollo lunar landing project. It is now operated by NASA as the main U.S. launching site for satellites and spaceflights. In terms of volume, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Space Center is the second largest building in the world, exceeded only by Boeings 747 aircraft factory in Seattle, Washington. Originally used to assemble Apollo and Saturn space vehicles, it was later modified to serve space-shuttle operations. It is an architectural feat because of its overwhelming size, but more because it was a building type without historic precedent. The new and difficult architectural design problems it presented (and addressed) have been clearly stated: The design of the assembly building had to allow for stacking the (110-meter) Apollo-Saturn space vehicle on top of its 14-meter-high movable launch platform