Hangar AE

28°29′23.7″N 80°35′6.2″W

Hangar AE

History

Built in 1959, Hangar AE was originally built for a Department of Defense missile program. The facility was acquired in 1960 by NASA and modified for unmanned missions.^[1] The building contains a Class 10K horizontal laminar flow clean room complex, a telemetry ground station, an extensive communications center for data, voice and video, 3 launch vehicle data centers (LVDC),^[2] the Mission Director’s Center (MDC), and offices for payload and contractor personnel. It is located on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but maintained by NASA Kennedy Space Center.

NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) utilizes this facility as its launch communications center.^[3] The entire building is environmentally controlled.

The Hangar AE control rooms provide real-time voice, data and video information for expendable vehicle checkout and launch operations, similar to that provided by the Space Shuttle control rooms. Each console in the LVDC has a 40-channel voice instrument called a MOCS2 (Mission Operation Communication System version 2). Other areas have 24-channel versions of the MOCS2. Each console has access to an administrative telephone and a modem line for use with a laptop computer, if required.^[4]

The building can obtain data from launch sites beyond those at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch sites for missions Hangar AE has gathered telemetry on include:

• Vandenberg Air Force Base (California)
• Reagan Test Site (Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands)
• Wallops Flight Facility (Virginia)
• Kodiak Launch Complex (Alaska)

The building was one of several Kennedy Space Center buildings to receive substantial damage during Hurricane Frances in 2004.^[5] Separately, the clean room experienced a fire and is not currently certified for use.

During the TDRS-L launch in January 2014, LSP engineers located in Hangar AE troubleshot a problem with periodic dropouts in telemetry from the vehicle threatened to stop the launch and allowed the launch to continue that night.^[6]

Spacecraft processed

• Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission^[7][8]

References

1. Steve Garber (February 18, 2005). "John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC)". NASA History. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
2. George H. Diller (May 11, 2001). "MEDIA INVITED TO ATTEND LAUNCH VEHICLE DATA CENTER DEDICATION EVENT AT NASA HANGAR AE". NASA News. Archived from the original on February 3, 2002. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
3. "LSP Launch Operations". LSP's Launch Communications Center. NASA. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
4. "Launch Vehicle Data Center (LVDC)" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
5. Melissa Mathews; Jessica Rye (Sep 16, 2004). "Kennedy Space Center Recovers from Hurricane Frances". NASA News.
6. "Engineers' Telemetry Fix Preserves TDRS-L Launch". NASA Kennedy Space Center. February 18, 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
7. "Swift Spacecraft Processing Activities". NASA Swift Mission. 2004-11-24.
8. "The Careful Craft of Spacecraft Processing". Kennedy Mission Features. NASA. Retrieved 20 June 2014.