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:
“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day ... a movement is only people moving.”
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)
“We accept and welcome ... as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment; the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few; and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race.”
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919)
“Common sense should tell us that reading is the ultimate weapon—destroying ignorance, poverty and despair before they can destroy us. A nation that doesn’t read much doesn’t know much. And a nation that doesn’t know much is more likely to make poor choices in the home, the marketplace, the jury box and the voting booth...The challenge, therefore, is to convince future generations of children that carrying a book is more rewarding than carrying guns.”
—Jim Trelease (20th century)