A-3 Test Stand Steel Erection
John C. Stennis Space Center Mississippi

Contract Number: NNS08AA54C
Contact: Jason F. Edge
Email: Jason.F.Edge@nasa.gov

IKBI, Inc. performed several elements of the A-3 Test Stand construction of NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The A-3 Test Stand provides altitude testing for NASA’s developing J-2X engine. That engine powers the upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V rockets. The J-2X engines, under vacuum conditions, simulate high altitude operations. The A-3 is also operable as a sea-level test facility.

Standing over 300 feet tall, the new test stand is an open steel frame structure located south of the existing A-1 test stand. Its 19-acre site in Stennis’ A Complex includes a test control center propellant barge docks and access roadways. This test stand allows engineers to simulate conditions at different altitudes by generating steam to reduce pressure in the test cell.

Since inception of Stennis Space Center in 1960, the A-3 is the first large test stand to be built in over 40 years. The structural steel package consists of more than 4,000,000 pounds of steel.