This Building Once Assembled Saturn V Rockets for Moon Missions — Now It’s Prepping Hardware for Mars

NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is one of the most colossal structures ever built, and it’s still the backbone of America’s space program.

Originally constructed to assemble the towering Saturn V rockets that powered the Apollo moon landings, the VAB now serves as the production floor for the Space Launch System (SLS) — the super heavy-lift rocket that will carry astronauts back to the moon and, eventually, to Mars.

The building is a record-breaker: it’s the tallest single-story structure in the world at 525 feet, and its four high bays are accessed through the largest doors on Earth, each standing 456 feet tall and taking 45 minutes to open.

The VAB’s steel frame weighs 98,590 tons, and its concrete base extends 164 feet into bedrock on 4,225 steel pilings.

Inside, teams have assembled everything from the Saturn V and Space Shuttle to the SLS and Orion spacecraft.

The SLS for Artemis III is already in the VAB, targeting a 2027 launch, while NASA plans to use the rocket and Orion for crewed missions to Mars. The VAB isn’t just a relic of the past — it’s the launchpad for humanity’s next giant leap.