Marshall Space Flight Center

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The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is a lead NASA center for propulsion, Space Shuttle propulsion, external fuel tank, crew training and payloads, International Space Station (ISS) design and construction, for computers, networks, and information management. Located on the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama and named in honor of General George Marshall, the center also contains one of the Shuttle mission operation centers known as the HOSC where some mission and pre-missions operations are controlled.

The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) is a facility which supports Space Shuttle launch activities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The HOSC also monitors rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station when a Marshall Center payload is on board.

MSFC arose from the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) and the Army Ordnance Missile Command (AOMC) centered at Redstone Arsenal. The transition from military to civilian space exploration came when President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced on site the formation of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) on July 1, 1960. At this time Marshall also received its name and a bronze bust of the general from the President. The center became the civilian base for Dr. Wernher von Braun, his team of German rocket scientists and a large host of military and civilian contractors.

Historical projects include the Hermes, an early U.S. adaptation of the German V-2, the Jupiter-C, used to launch the Explorer I satellite, the Redstone rocket, the ABMA/AOMC to NASA transition vehicle used in the ballistic missile program and the Mercury space program, the Juno, the Atlas, with the US Air Force used in the ballistic missile program and the Mercury and Gemini space program, the Titan, also used for Gemini, the Saturn series (I-V), used in the Apollo and Skylab programs. Modern boosters include the Space Shuttle liquid and solid propellant engines and the Delta series, used in satellite and Mars mission launches.

Many vestiges of the early programs are still visible around the center, including engine test stands, several of which are shown in the photo to the right.