NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, is one of the world’s largest manufacturing plants, with 43 acres under one roof and a port with deep-water access, permitting transportation of large space systems and hardware. The facility has a long, successful history and proven expertise in the manufacture and assembly of large aerospace systems and structures supporting NASA programs and projects, including the first stage of the Saturn V rockets during the Apollo era; the space shuttle external tank, which helped to power the shuttle to Earth orbit for three decades; and key elements of the Space Launch System, NASA’s next great rocket, soon to lift new, crewed science and exploration missions into the solar system. Today the facility also houses a variety of government agency and commercial tenants. Michoud is managed for the agency by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA/MSFC)