Editing Vehicle Assembly Building (section)

== History ==
The VAB, completed in 1966, was originally built for the vertical assembly of the [[Apollo program|Apollo]]–[[Saturn V]] [[space vehicle]] and was originally referred to as the ''Vertical Assembly Building''. In anticipation of post-Apollo projects such as the [[Space Shuttle]] program, it was renamed the Vehicle Assembly Building on February 3, 1965.<ref name="moonport-ch12">{{Cite book |last1=Benson |first1=Charles Dunlap |last2=Faherty |first2=William Barnaby |url=https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch12-7.html |title=Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations |publisher=[[NASA]] |year=1978 |chapter=VAB Nears Completion |id=SP-4204 |quote=The new name, it was felt, would more readily encompass future as well as current programs and would not be tied to the Saturn booster. |access-date=September 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025104911/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch12-7.html |archive-date=October 25, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="nasa-americas-spaceport">{{Cite web |year=2010 |title=America's Spaceport |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/438859main_amspaceport10.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219084111/https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/438859main_amspaceport10.pdf |archive-date=February 19, 2024 |access-date=February 22, 2013 |publisher=[[NASA]] |page=13}}</ref> It was subsequently used to mate the Space Shuttle [[Space Shuttle orbiter|orbiters]] to their [[Space Shuttle external tank|external fuel tanks]] and [[Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster|solid rocket boosters]]. Once the complete space vehicle was assembled on a [[mobile launcher platform]], a [[crawler-transporter]] moved it to [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A|Launch Complex-39A]] or [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B|39B]].

The building was designed with future expansion in mind but ultimately ended up being larger than NASA would ever need. Initially, during the planning of Kennedy Space Center, as many as five launch pads were proposed, and designs for a six-bay VAB were drawn up. However, as the plans were scaled back to just two launch pads, the VAB was reduced to four bays.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Benson |first1=Charles D. |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/moonport.pdf |title=Moonport |last2=Faherty |first2=William Barnaby |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |year=1978 |pages=123–126, 163}}</ref> The contractors built the VAB to accommodate potential expansion to six bays, but such expansion was never required. In fact, only three bays were ever connected to the crawlerway. Bay 2, located on the west side of the building (farther from the launch pads), saw limited use during the Saturn V era and was eventually converted into a storage area for the Shuttle program.

Before the destruction of {{OV|102}} in 2003, NASA installed a sub-roof inside the VAB to deal with falling concrete debris due to the building's age.<ref name="caib-vol1-114">{{Cite book |last1=Gehman |first1=Harold W. |last2=Barry |first2=John L. |last3=Deal |first3=Duane W. |last4=Hallock |first4=James N. |last5=Hess |first5=Kenneth W. |last6=Hubbard |first6=G. Scott |last7=Logsdon |first7=John M. |last8=Osheroff |first8=Douglas D. |last9=Ride |first9=Sally K. |last10=Tetrault |first10=Roger E. |last11=Turcotte |first11=Stephen A. |last12=Wallace |first12=Steven B. |last13=Widnall |first13=Sheila E. |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20030066167/downloads/20030066167.pdf#page=114 |title=Columbia Accident Investigation Board, Report Vol. 1 |date=August 2003 |isbn=978-0-16-067904-9 |page=114 |author-link1=Harold W. Gehman Jr. |author-link4=James N. Hallock |author-link6=G. Scott Hubbard |author-link7=John Logsdon |author-link8=Douglas Osheroff |author-link9=Sally Ride |author-link11=Stephen A. Turcotte |author-link13=Sheila Widnall |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918072124/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20030066167/downloads/20030066167.pdf#page=114 |archive-date=September 18, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The VAB was designated as a [[National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark]] by the [[American Society of Civil Engineers]] in 2020.<ref name="floridatoday-20200111">{{Cite news |date=January 10, 2020 |title=Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC Designated as National Civil Engineering Landmark |url=https://www.floridatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2020/01/10/vab-named-national-historic-civil-engineering-landmark/4436911002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111164153/https://www.floridatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2020/01/10/vab-named-national-historic-civil-engineering-landmark/4436911002/ |archive-date=January 11, 2020 |access-date=August 20, 2022 |work=[[Florida Today]]}}</ref>