To send really big rockets into space, you need equally enormous buildings to construct them in. Enter SpaceX’s new hangar, under construction right next to the pad that used to send Apollo missions to the Moon.

It’s so powerful that it could set a next-generation mission to the Moon. That’s what. The new hangar — big enough to hold five Dragon 9 rockets, or house the upcoming Falcon Heavy vehicle — is being built next to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

That real estate comes with some major pedigree — pad 39A was the starting point for all the Apollo missions, plus the first and last launch location of the Space Shuttle. In fact, the hangar sits on the gravel road that NASA’s giant crawler-transporters used taking Space Shuttles to the launchpad.

Work started on the new hangar just a few months ago in February, but it should be ready for the first scheduled test launch of the Falcon Heavy later this year.

 
Source: io9 SpaceX’s New Hangar Is A Mammoth Gateway To The Stars  |  Image credit: SpaceX