NASA’s Spaceship Factory Is Unfathomably Huge

NASA’s Spaceship Factory Is Unfathomably Huge

Now that the Space Shuttle program is over, NASA is remodeling the Vehicle Assembly Building where they were built. It’s a huge building, one of the largest in the world. How huge? Here’s some info to (maybe) help put it into perspective:

  • The VAB has the volume of three and a half Empire State Buildings
  • Put another way, it would take 250 billion ping pong balls to fill the VAB. That’s 791 ping pong balls for every person in the United States
  • The VAB has the largest doors in the world — 139m high. When they’re wide open, they take 45 minutes to close.
  • The American Flag painted on the front of the VAB is 64m high. The blue field is the size of an NBA basketball court with stars 1.8m across.
  • As for the VAB’s output, that includes 13 Saturn V rockets (used in Apollo and Skylab missions) and Space Shuttles that flew 135 missions.

Take a look at the whole infographic, then check out these jaw dropping photos. Bet you’ll never brag about your studio apartment again. [NASA]


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