NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Michoud Transitions to New Facility Operations Manager

The 62-day phase in is complete. Members of the Michoud Transition Board signed the certification of transition June 25, turning over manufacturing support and facility operations management at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Jacobs Technology of Tullahoma, Tenn on July 1. The facility previously had been managed by Lockheed Martin for over 25 years.

The Michoud Transition Board includes John Shannon, manager of the Space Shuttle Program; Sheila Cloud, Michoud transition manager; Jeff Hanley, program manager of the Constellation Program; Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate; and Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

The Michoud facility supports several major projects for the Constellation Program, which is developing NASA's next generation of crew exploration and launch vehicles. For 35 years, the Space Shuttle Program has manufactured and built the external fuel tank at Michoud.

Michoud, a NASA-owned facility, is one of the world's largest manufacturing plants. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages it. The Michoud facility, located on 832 acres, has more than 2.2 million square feet of manufacturing space and features state-of-the-art plant and tooling equipment. It is one of the largest employers in Louisiana, with more than 3,900 employees on-site.

Members of the Michoud Assembly Facility Transition Board sign the certification of transition June 25, turning over manufacturing support and facility operations management of Michoud in New Orleans to Jacobs Technology of Tullahoma, Tenn. Front row, from left, are Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Missions Directorate, and Geoff Yoder, director of the Constellation Systems Division (sitting in on behalf of Doug Cooke). Back row, from left, are John Shannon, manager of the Space Shuttle Program; Sheila Cloud, Michoud transition manager; and Steve Doering, associate program manager for the Constellation Program (sitting in for Jeff Hanley). Image Credit: Lockheed Martin

Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is a world-class manufacturing facility providing vital support to NASA exploration and discovery missions. Michoud's capabilities include the manufacture and assembly of critical hardware components for the space shuttle and exploration vehicles under development at Marshall and other NASA field centers. Michoud is a NASA-owned facility managed by Marshall Space Flight Center.

Michoud is unique in that it contains one of the largest production buildings in the nation, which includes a vertical assembly building for stacking external tank components for the space shuttle program. Michoud supports several major projects for NASA’s Constellation Program, which is developing America’s next generation of space transportation vehicles. Michoud’s highly skilled workforce will manufacture and assemble the upper stage of the Ares I rocket, the core stage and Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo rocket, and the Orion crew exploration vehicle, and will conduct final systems integration and checkout of Ares I avionics systems.

Helping to Rebuild New Orleans

Marshall Space Flight Center is also helping rebuild the New Orleans economy with employment opportunities at Michoud Assembly Facility, partnering with the State of Louisiana and the University of New Orleans, in support of the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Marshall works to develop new opportunities for Michoud’s manufacturing, testing and laboratory capabilities, and its underused green space and real property.

Requesting Utilization of Michoud: http://mafbusiness.msfc.nasa.gov/