john f. kennedy space center brevard county, florida - Environmental ...

NAME(S): Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)
FACILITY NO(S): K6-894
FLORIDA MASTER SITE FILE NO: 8BR1991
LOCATION: Vehicle Assembly Building Area, directly west of the VAB
PROPERTY TYPE: Vehicle Processing Facilities
DATE(S): 1977
ARCHITECT/ENGINEER: Built by Frank Briscoe Company, Inc., East Orange, New Jersey
USE (ORIGINAL/CURRENT): The OPF was built to house post-flight deservicing, testing,
modifications, and preflight processing of the Space Shuttle Orbiters. Current use is the same.
HISTORICAL DATA: The OPF was built by the Frank Briscoe Company, Inc. of East Orange,
New Jersey under successive contracts totaling more than $12.6 million. The Phase 1 contract
was dated July 1975; Phase 2 covered the period between June 1976 and August 1977. In May
1977, a $3.1 million was awarded to the Beckman Construction Company of Fort Worth, Texas
for fabrication and installation of the main access platform, piping and cabling in one of the high
bays, plus construction of a two-story 10,000 ft 2 service and support annex. Large areas of High
Bay 2 were turned into a tile densification processing facility in February 1980, preparing tiles for
the Orbiter Columbia. In January 1981, Briscoe was awarded a $3.9 million contract to modify
High Bay 2.
The OPF was designed and built exclusively to prepare the Space Shuttle Orbiter for flight.
Operations performed within the OPF include draining and purging the fuel systems, removing
ordnance, repairing/replacing damaged components, inspecting/ refurbishing the Thermal
Protection System, inspecting/testing Orbiter systems and installing/removing payloads. Orbiter
processing usually takes approximately 70 to 90 days, depending on the payload and the need for
modifications to the Orbiter. OPF 1 was the first operational high bay. High Bay 2 was first used
for Orbiter processing in 1982 or 1983. Currently, the two high bays are each devoted to a single
Orbiter, Atlantis in High Bay 1 and Endeavour in High Bay 2. Prior to the Columbia accident, the
high bays were assigned on a “first available” basis. On-going modifications have been made to
the structure over the past 10-12 years. In the mid-1980s, hydraulic jacks which lift the Orbiter
were installed. However, the basic structure has remained unchanged.
DESCRIPTION: The OPF is located to the east of Kennedy Parkway, at the southwest corner of
the intersection of the orbiter Towway and Utility Road, in the VAB Area of the KSC. The
facility as a whole contains two hangars or high bays (High Bay 1 and High Bay 2), a low bay, an
office and training annex, fuel and oxidizer deservicing pads, gaseous hydrogen and oxygen
storage pads, a hypergol storage tank, and a fire pump house. The OPF High Bay 3 facility is
located across the Orbiter Towway to the northeast.
The OPF is an Industrial Vernacular style facility, which measures 398 feet (ft) in length (northsouth
axis), 398 ft in width (east-west axis), and 95 ft in height, overall. It is composed of a
central low bay, flanked on each side by a high bay, or hangar. As originally constructed, the low
bay measured 236 ft in length, 98 ft in width, and 25 ft in height. It was built of concrete block,
with a poured concrete slab foundation and a flat, built-up roof. In 1976, a two-story addition