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Posted on 01/13/2026 3:19:11 AM PST by Ezekiel
NASA’s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the “T-Tower” were demolished at Marshall Space Flight Center on Saturday.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The landscape at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has changed forever.
Two very large and critical structures during the Apollo and Shuttle eras were demolished Saturday morning.
Their “leveling” is part of MSFC’s “modernization plan” to eliminate 25 buildings or facilities considered obsolete.
NASA’s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the “T-Tower” are National Historic landmarks, but that designation won’t save them.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at waff.com ...
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Heard it. Felt it.
I’ve been pretty busy these past few days, so I had not seen this news. Figured I’d missed the thread.
I was surprised that it hadn’t been posted already.
I read that was really something. Windows breaking miles away.
I bet they paid a contractor to do that. Sad because EOD is based at Redstone, would have been “good training”.
**Sigh**
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’s propulsion system through its rigors.
“It’s one of the most recognizable landmarks in Huntsville,” Derek Rose said.
Not any more, but there's always the Davidson Center along 565, address 1 Tranquility Base:
The Davidson Center was designed to house the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and many other space exploration exhibits. The vehicle is elevated above the floor surface with separated stages and engines exposed, so visitors have the opportunity to walk underneath the rocket.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Space_%26_Rocket_Center#Buildings
The Saturn V dynamic test vehicle, designated SA-500D, is a prototype Saturn V rocket used by NASA to test the performance of the rocket when vibrated to simulate the shaking which subsequent rockets would experience during launch. It was the first full-scale Saturn V completed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).
Though SA-500D never flew, it was instrumental in the development of the Saturn V rocket which propelled the first men to the Moon as part of the Apollo program. Built under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun, it served as the test vehicle for all of the Saturn support facilities at MSFC.[2][3][4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V_dynamic_test_vehicle
The first stage of this Saturn V is hoisted into position for a shake test at the Saturn V dynamic test stand in 1966.
My son is at UAH... I’ll have to ask him if he felt it.
Been there. I was an Apollo kid in a candy store all over again! Oh, those were the days.
I have a grandson at UAH. He loves it!
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany. Addin', not pingin'.
Rattled my place, which is 7 to 8 miles from the location of the implosions.
I presume that the area just below the rocket is a no smoking area? :-)
EOD isn’t trained to do building demolition.
Isnt there enough land to build new on and allow history to remain?
Well, a bunch of brains from across the pond
Came to America to help our Native Sons.
On a stormy night in 1958,
Down in Rocket City, history was made.
Everybody went crazy throughout the town,
Sirens went a-wailing with a rocking sound.
The mayor of the city took of his hat,
And they're shooting firecrackers in the old town square.
Move over, Mr. Muttnik [Sputnik II], you've got to make room
Yeah, shake it over, Sputnik, for a US moon.
Rocking around the globe at a terrible pace,
Alabama's contribution to the conquest of space.
Me and my baby stayed up late
while a Jupiter-C bopped into space.
Move over, Mr. Muttnik, you've got to make room
For we're shakin' over Sputnik with a Rocket City moon!
Dad and I drove to uncles near Patrick AFB. Walked over to Cocoa beach to witness The Apollo 9 launch and then drove back up to Virginia in time for Christmas, and the broadcast from the moon. I’ll never forget that Christmas.
The girls stayed home... pops was a road warrior.
We are too far out to have geard it alas.
In the mid 1980s I designed, built, and installed a "Life Safety Warning and Control System" for the East Test Area. The system synchronized with the countdown clock and then elevated warning signals, voice announcement, and gate closures. While working on that I was given a tour of the blockhouse for the Saturn test stand. Its basement contained six floors of strip chart and linear recorders. The test stand was a mile from the blockhouse; and, there were 18,000 #18 silver wire pairs running between them in a tunnel. That was more tonnage of silver than most any nation possesses. Those were to be replaced with a single optical fiber.
So, a back in the day story - went to High School in Huntsville and came back to work there with Boeing after my undergrad. Was a software architect on the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) project and spent most of my 5 years in building 4666. There was a test stand in back of the building and we got to experience an SSME test during my time there. Great experience! I was back in Huntsville visiting family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Always liked Huntsville.
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