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

inside the building, where it is crated in a wooden box after the completion of the processing
activities, and stored for four to five months.
All parachutes are hand-inspected, and red flags placed on damaged areas. Several hundred
repairs per parachute are common. Following repairs, inspection, and acceptance, the parachutes
are folded and placed in canisters. The packing process begins with a deployment bag which is
placed into a wood or metal container. The parachute is folded into this bag, with a hydraulic
press used to compact it. On average, it takes four people five days to pack a main parachute.
Three main parachutes are then placed into a single parachute support structure. The processed
main parachutes are transported to the SRB Assembly and Refurbishment Facility (ARF); the
drogue and pilot parachutes are shipped separately to the SRB ARF. Each flight set is typically
stored for six months to one year before its next use.
DESCRIPTION: The Industrial Vernacular style PRF is a one-story concrete block building
with a poured concrete slab foundation and a flat, built-up roof. The original section of the
facility, which dates to ca. 1964, measured approximately 200 feet (ft) in length (north-south), 50
ft in width (east-west), and 17 ft in height, overall, with a 30-ft by 60-ft cut-out at the
southeastern corner. With the 1978-79 addition, the PRF obtained an L-shaped plan composed of
a rectangular building with approximate dimensions of 200 ft in length and 100 ft in width, and
an open laundry area, that extends for roughly 40 ft in length and 200 ft in width.
The interior of the enclosed building is divided into a two-story central office bay, part of the late
1970s addition, flanked by a work area to each side. The west work area, formed from the
original facility, has an open layout with 54 sewing machines placed throughout and tensile
testing equipment. Two 30-ton and one 12-ton hydraulic presses used for packing are also located
in this area. The east work area, within the newer portion, contains three aisles, each dominated
by a long work table. The inner aisle (Aisle 2) is used for inspection and refurbishment, while the
outer two aisles (Aisles 1 and 3) are used for packing.
The northern open space, known as the “defouling” area, contains washing and drying equipment.
This area is connected to the interior processing areas by a monorail system which conveys the
parachutes on overhead hooks through the refurbishment operation.
The resource boundary extends from the outer footprint of the Parachute Refurbishment Facility,
approximately 10 feet, which includes all necessary components historically required for its
functions.
SIGNIFICANCE: The Parachute Refurbishment Facility is considered eligible for listing in the
NRHP under Criteria A in the context of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program (1969-2010) in the area
of Space Exploration. Because it has achieved significance within the past 50 years, Criteria
Consideration G applies. The period of significance for the PRF is from 1979, the date of its
completed refurbishment, through 2010, the designated end of the Space Shuttle Program. The
Space Shuttle Program is the longest running American space program to date. Unlike the
Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, the emphasis was on cost effectiveness and reusability, as
well as the construction of a space station. As a NASA manufacturing and assembly facility, the
PRF fabricates and repairs a variety of parachute types, and keeps the parachute flight sets in
excellent working condition. The main, drogue and pilot parachutes are essential components to
the recovery of the Space Shuttle SRBs. Deployed sequentially, the parachutes slow the fall of
the SRBs, which facilitate the recovery efforts and subsequent reuse. As such, the PRF is of
exceptional importance to the Space Shuttle Program, and because it is less than 50 years in age,
Criteria Consideration G applies.