HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center removed two of its historic test stands, the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility and the Dynamic Test Facility, with carefully coordinated implosions on Saturday.
Huntsville lost 2 pieces of its space legacy.
The Dynamic test stand and T‑tower on Marshall Space Flight Center were demolished in a controlled explosion as part of NASA’s plan to modernize.
The blast was powerful enough to shake windows in communities as far away as New Market and Harvest.
Huntsville residents gathered miles away to watch these iconic stands fall.
Lindsay Williams remembers when these structures were up and running.
“I grew up here and in the 80s, like, we used to hear the rockets going off and be able to see, I mean, the testing, not them going off, but all the testing and stuff, so it’s kind of sad to see that gone now,” Williams said.
These structures played important roles as the space race heated up in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
But by the early 2000s, they were relics of a bygone era.
In 2022 NASA announced they would be coming down.
This is the first phase of many outdated space structures scheduled to fall on Marshall.
They plan to take 25 historic properties down.
Bob Gaffin was the chief engineer on the Dynamic Test Stand in the mid-60s, and he didn’t think this day would ever come.
“It’s a part of my life you know it’s where I started off at Marshall. They’re important pieces and I do hate to see them go,” Gaffin said.
Williams had mixed emotions as well as she watched the structures fall.
“I mean it’s just our history and it’s a big part of the history and I think you know it’s a big landmark coming over the mountain all the time seeing it. It’s sad I guess to see it go in a way but it’s I know it’s exciting also for what’s coming,” Williams said.
The demolition of these historic structures is part of a larger project at Marshall that began in Spring 2022, targeting several inactive structures and building a dynamic, interconnected campus ready for the next era of space exploration.
Artifacts and historic stands of these towers will soon be on display at the Space and Rocket Center.
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