Future
The Space Shuttle was retired in 2011. The VAB could be used to some extent for assembly and processing of any future vehicles utilizing Launch Complex 39. As of early 2012, NASA is offering tours of the VAB for "a limited time." In the future, the VAB will be used to prepare commercial launch vehicles, and for the use of NASA's new Space Launch System.
The NASA FY2013 budget includes $143.7 million USD for Cost of Facilities (CoF) requirements in support of Exploration programs including Space Launch System (SLS) and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). NASA will begin modifying Launch Complex 39 at KSC to support the new SLS. NASA will begin with major repairs, code upgrades and safety improvements to the Launch Control Center, Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and the VAB Utility Annex. This initial work will be required to support any launch vehicle operated from Launch Complex 39 and will allow NASA to begin modernizing the facilities, while vehicle specific requirements are being developed.
Read more about this topic: Vehicle Assembly Building
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“One day my mother called me ... and she said, “Forty-nine million Americans saw you on television tonight. One of them is the father of my future grandchild, but he’s never going to call you because you wore your glasses.””
—Lesley Stahl (b. 1941)
“The present hour is always wealthiest when it is poorer than the future ones, as that is the pleasantest site which affords the pleasantest prospects.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Today democracy, liberty, and equality are words to fool the people. No nation can progress with such ideas. They stand in the way of action. Therefore we frankly abolish them. In the future each man will serve the interest of the state with absolute obedience. Let him who refuses beware.”
—Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)