Contract awarded for test stands

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Birmingham's Brasfield & Gorrie won a $45 million contract to build two stands at Marshall Space Flight Center to test the fuel tanks and other key hardware of NASA's Space Launch System. One stand will be 215 feet tall and will test the SLS liquid hydrogen tank. The second stand will be 85 feet tall and will test the liquid oxygen tank of the new rocket. The stands will take about a year to build with construction will begin late this month. The core stage of the SLS is 200 feet tall, larger than the 75-foot tall Saturn V first stage of the past. The core is composed of two fuel tanks, a main engine compartment, an intertank ring to join the two tanks and a top ring to attach the core to the Orion upper stage. The tanks are being built at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. (Source: al.com, 05/06/14) Stennis Space Center, Miss., will test the RS-25 engines that will power the core stage of SLS.