NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

STS-128 Astronaut Visits MAF

Pat Forrester addresses workers at MAF and said the mission could not have been possible without them and the external tank. Forrester and his fellow astronauts took space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Photo credit: Jacobs Technology. Image credit: Jacobs Technology
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Astronaut Pat Forrester stopped by Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) Oct. 8th to visit with MAF employees and talk about his mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of STS-128.

Commander Rick Sturckow led the STS-128 mission to the ISS aboard space shuttle Discovery with Kevin Ford serving as pilot. Also serving aboard Discovery with Forrester were mission specialists José Hernández, John "Danny" Olivas, Christer Fuglesang, Nicole Stott and Timothy Kopra.

Forrester told a crowd of about 300 workers that Stott remained on the station as an Expedition 20 flight engineer replacing Timothy Kopra. Kopra returned home aboard Discovery as a mission specialist.

Forrester played a mission video for the crowd that showed Discovery delivering the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module containing life support racks and science racks. It was Discovery's 37th mission to space and the 30th mission of a space shuttle dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station.

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/