The Chris A. Hadfield Rocket Factory (CAHRF 'pronouned "Karf") is an aerospace company workshop that is based at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, and was incorporated in 2012.[1]
It specializes in manufacturing and assembling fuel tanks and miscellaneous aerospace parts for rockets such as the Space Launch System. The factory has 135 employees, working as contractors for NASA and its commercial partners onsite. As the name implies, it is named after the famous Canadian NASA astronaut Chris A. Hadfield, where he was a former employee of the Michoud production site. The renaming ceremony took place in October 2012.[2]
History[]
The site where it occupies - the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), is an 832-acre (1.3 sq mi; 3.4 km2) industrial complex for the manufacture and structural assembly of aerospace vehicles and components. It's owned by NASA in New Orleans East, a district within New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. Organizationally it is part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and is currently a multi-tenant complex to allow commercial and government contractors, as well as government agencies, to use the site. MAF is one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world with 43 environmentally controlled acres—174,000 m2 (1,870,000 sq ft)—under one roof, and it employs more than 4,200 people. From September 1961 to the end of the Apollo program in December 1972 the site was utilized by Chrysler Corporation to build the first stages of the Saturn I and Saturn IB, later joined by Boeing Corporation to build the first stage of the Saturn V rockets. From September 5, 1973, to September 20, 2010, the factory was used for the construction of the Space Shuttle's external fuel tanks by Martin Marietta Corporation, as well as International Space Station modules.
In October 2012, the parts of the facility dedicated to rocket construction were renamed the Chris A. Hadfield Rocket Factory (CAHRF), after the factory's former employee and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Features[]
CAHRF is one of the most luxurious rocket factories ever built. As well as the clean factory floor itself, it has a lobby with marble decor, a buffet restaurant, offices, a gym, plaza, and a basketball court.
In popular media[]
Minecraft fans have built replicas of the Chris Hadfield Factory and its parent complex the Michoud Assembly Facility in Minecraft.
CAHRF is also featured/mentioned on Pinterest, YouTube, the Canadian Encyclopedia[3], Fascinate.com[4], and others.
Controversies[]
The CAHRF aerospace company has experienced some negative criticism in 2023 from NASA and Wikipedia editors. The company had been alleged of overly promoting its ad campaign with several digitally altered photos, to which the company denies of any wrongdoing. Chris Hadfield - the factory's namesake - has declined any public comment.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://dbpedia.org/page/Michoud_Assembly_Facility
- ↑ https://www.flickr.com/photos/155508014@N03/29594272587/in/photolist-NqU1hq-28zrcwa-293FqTU-M69oc6-27cEhGD-N4uYWS-LrzRfy-28zoAiP-29853Ub-N4uZcw-2874Kno-MZh19k-296tbdh-2aR6oqc-LofR1a-LofzZP-2a4Tibu-Pk7fTo-LrAaUC-27Nvu5G
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220630232020/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chris-hadfield
- ↑ https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-chris-hadfield