Hypergol Maintenance and Checkout Facility was a rocket fuel and engine complex located in an isolated part of the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

industrial area. It was constructed in 1964 to support the

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

and upgraded in 1985 to support the

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

. The

hypergolic propellant A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The ...

s used in the Space Shuttle's

reaction control system A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses Thrusters (spacecraft), thrusters to provide Spacecraft attitude control, attitude control and translation (physics), translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels can be used for at ...

Orbital Maneuvering System In spaceflight, an orbital maneuver (otherwise known as a burn) is the use of propulsion systems to change the orbit of a spacecraft. For spacecraft far from Earth, an orbital maneuver is called a ''deep-space maneuver (DSM)''. When a spacec ...

, and the auxiliary power units provided hydraulic power to the shuttle's control surfaces, main engines and brakes were stored and processed in part of the complex. Part of the facility was used for cryogenic testing during the Apollo program and

Solid Rocket Booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give laun ...

aft skirt hot-testing. Among other structures, the facility included two hypergol storage buildings, a hazardous waste staging shelter, a liquid oxygen fuel pad, a liquid hydrogen fuel pad, leaching ponds and equipment shelters. Its Hypergol Support Building was recorded and documented by the National Park Service in 2013. Later, part of the facility became known as the Hypergol Maintenance Facility Hazardous Waste South Staging Area.

References

Buildings and structures in Merritt Island, Florida Kennedy Space Center Space Shuttle program {{coord, 28.5157, -80.6412, display=t