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NASA topples towers used to test Saturn rockets, space shuttle

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/nasa-topples-towers-used-to-test-saturn-rockets-space-shuttle/
32•bookofjoe•2h ago

Comments

schiffern•1h ago
Mourn not. These were purpose-built structures erected in record time to support a single program (and pressed into service for Shuttle & friends). They were first so they were by definition pioneering, but we've learned a lot since then.

The sad part isn't that they're gone. The sad part is that we didn't make them obsolete until just recently.

icegreentea2•4m ago
To be clear, NASA has an entire field center dedicated to rocket testing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stennis_Space_Center). This is where everything gets tested now. You may remember the "green run" tests of the SLS - those happened at Stennis.

Stennis didn't exist at the start of the space race or Apollo. Marshall is colocated on Redstone Arsenal, a legacy of parts of NASA being bootstrapped out of the Army ballistic missile program. Marshall had test stands because that era of NASA (aka von Braun) sought to colocated engineering, prototyping and test.

One challenge with continuing tests at Marshall is that... it's actually really close to population centers. Large engine tests would be ridiculously disruptive. There are comments in the Ars article noting that people living in Huntsville could hear the demolition work.

NooneAtAll3•59m ago
on one hand, "ha-ha artemis was made to reuse shuttle program and now look at this"

on the other... judging by the pictures nobody did the maintenance anyway, so it's straight up safety precaution and hazard removal

pfdietz•15m ago
In a steady state economy the metal going into infrastructure is balanced by metal recovered from obsolete infrastructure. Demolition and recycling is part of the economic lifecycle.

Almost 70% of US steel production is from recycled metal. Structural steel is recycled at a 98% rate.

bluGill•13m ago
As your mourn, remember that this space can now be used for something else. It is easy to see what we lost, but it is hard to see what we lose by not getting rid of something obsolete.

These structures were not something we could reasonably make into a museum (too much work required to make them safe/useful for that, and there already is a nice museum in the city that I strongly recommend you visit instead), so it is time to move on.

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NASA topples towers used to test Saturn rockets, space shuttle

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/nasa-topples-towers-used-to-test-saturn-rockets-space-shuttle/
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