{"id":406255,"date":"2026-01-11T13:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T13:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/406255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T13:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T13:04:10","slug":"historic-nasa-test-structures-demolished-at-marshall-space-flight-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/406255\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic NASA test structures demolished at Marshall Space Flight Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF<\/a>) – The landscape at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center has changed forever. <\/p>\n

Two very large and critical structures during the Apollo and Shuttle eras were demolished Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Their \u201cleveling\u201d is part of MSFC\u2019s \u201cmodernization plan\u201d to eliminate 25 buildings or facilities considered obsolete.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Check out the demolition of the historic NASA test structures that created a shake felt all around the Rocket City and surrounding areas!<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the \u201cT-Tower\u201d are National Historic landmarks, but that designation won\u2019t save them.<\/p>\n

The last critical tests done on the Saturn V and the space shuttle to make sure they were spaceworthy were done on these two test stands.<\/p>\n

The Dynamic Test Stand performed a shake, rattle, and roll test on the Saturn V and shuttle to mimic vibration at launch, and the shorter T-Tower ran the spacecraft\u2019s propulsion system through its rigors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most recognizable landmarks in Huntsville,\u201d Derek Rose said.<\/p>\n

Rose is an engineer who drives Cecil Ashburn daily, heading to work on Redstone Arsenal and looking for those test stands because he\u2019s connected to them by his dad, who was an iron worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will point it out to my children and tell them that their grandfather once worked on that test stand,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

His dad\u2019s work there inspired him to become an engineer.<\/p>\n

Bob Gaffin was the chief engineer on the Dynamic Test Stand in the mid-60s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have a hard time getting over it at first. I didn\u2019t think they\u2019d ever come down,\u201d Gaffin said.<\/p>\n

Gaffin said the Saturn V and shuttle would not have flown, and we would not have made it to the Moon had it not been for the work done on those two stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not just artifacts. They\u2019re important pieces of Huntsville,\u201d Gaffin said.<\/p>\n

These pieces are so important that they are considered National Historic landmarks, but that designation won\u2019t save them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply disappointed and disheartened by Marshall Space Flight Center\u2019s decision to demolish these structures,\u201d Alabama Historical Commission\u2019s Assistant State Archeologist, Eric Sipes, said.<\/p>\n

Sipes said that what NASA erects, NASA can legally tear down per section 106 of the federal code.<\/p>\n

He worked with Marshall for a year and a half and asked leaders to reconsider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told that they had attempted every potential to rehabilitate the structures,\u201d Sipes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had offered them to private entities to rehabilitate. They could find no takers on that. And we were told that the cost for rehabilitation for the National Historic Landmarks of Marshall would run into the millions of dollars, and did not fall in their budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sipes was even more disheartened knowing…<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of a handful of national historic landmarks that are located in Alabama, four of them are at Marshall and three are slated for demolition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That third landmark is the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, where astronauts trained underwater to simulate microgravity. <\/p>\n

Three of the 25 historic properties are without a future, only a past that keeps costing Marshall money in upkeep.<\/p>\n

Rose and Gaffin understand that practicality, but it still hurts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of my life, you know? It\u2019s where I started off at Marshall,\u201d Gaffin said.<\/p>\n

The Alabama Historical Commission asked the Center to create 3D digital models of each of the National Historic Landmarks, and MSFC did. There are also extensive digital photographs in the Library of Congress, and Auburn is creating imaging as well. <\/p>\n

MSFC said that a few important pieces of these structures will reside in the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 WAFF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – The landscape at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center has changed forever. Two very large…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[215351,12560,64,63,215350,215349,215348,215345,215352,48035,215343,131,215353,215354,215347,128,215344,285,215346,215355],"class_list":{"0":"post-406255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-alabama-historical-commission","9":"tag-apollo","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-bob-gaffin","13":"tag-cecil-ashburn","14":"tag-derek-rose","15":"tag-dynamic-test-stand","16":"tag-eric-sipes","17":"tag-marshall-space-flight-center","18":"tag-msfc","19":"tag-nasa","20":"tag-national-historic-landmarks","21":"tag-neutral-buoyancy-simulator","22":"tag-saturn-v","23":"tag-science","24":"tag-shuttle","25":"tag-space","26":"tag-t-tower","27":"tag-u-s-space-and-rocket-center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}