NASA Has Chosen The Michoud Assembly Facility To Construct Major Components Of Its New Heavy-Lift Rocket

Sen. David Vitter PR – Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. David Vitter made the following statement congratulating NASA for choosing the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East to construct components of its new heavy-lift rocket. Earlier this month, NASA unveiled the design of the rocket, and Vitter immediately urged NASA to choose Michoud for construction.

“NASA’s selection of Michoud is big, big news for southeast Louisiana,” Vitter said. “Michoud is the only NASA facility that is currently ready to do the large manufacturing that will be required for the heavy-lift rocket. I’ve been working for years with the Louisiana delegation to ensure Michoud remains well positioned for this kind of work, and with local companies in the high-tech Stennis-Michoud corridor to ensure the area remains a vital part of the space program.”

NASA says they will be building several components at MAF, including manufacturing core stage and upper stage, the instrument ring and integrating engines with core and upper stages.

As the ranking member of the NASA space subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Vitter secured key provisions in the bipartisan 2010 NASA Reauthorization that ensured Michoud Assembly Facility’s continued viability and will help keep Louisiana as an integral part of human space flight for years to come.

In August, Vitter helped lead a meeting in Slidell of the Stennis-Michoud Aerospace Corridor Alliance, a group he founded to promote regional development in connection with the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and the Stennis Space Center near the Mississippi-Louisiana border.