--- title: "The Head of NASA Says There Are Holes in the Roof of Spacecraft Lab" description: "The Michoud Assembly Facility, where NASA is assembling its heavy-lift, lunar mission launching Space Launch System, has literal holes in the roof." date: "2021-05-20" modified: "2021-05-20" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-head-holes-roof" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "bill nelson" - "moon" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # The Head of NASA Says There Are Holes in the Roof of Spacecraft Lab ![The Michoud Assembly Facility, where NASA is assembling its heavy-lift, lunar mission launching Space Launch System, has literal holes in the roof.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Hole Story NASA's brand-new leader, Bill Nelson, [met with Congress this week]() to plead for an additional $11 billion — that's billion with a "b" — to get Americans back onto the surface of the Moon by 2024. Buried in his remarks, though, was an eyebrow-raising admission: the Michoud Assembly Facility, where NASA is assembling its heavy-lift, lunar mission launching Space Launch System, has literal holes in the roof. "They’ve got holes in the roof where they’re putting together the core of the SLS," he said, [according to *SpaceNews*](). "You all can really, really help us." ## Open Skies The Michoud Assembly Facility is an enormous complex in New Orleans that's helped NASA develop projects including its iconic Saturn V rockets and the Space Shuttle program. It's not clear what specific damage Nelson was referring to, but the facility has sustained damage several times over the years, including [during Hurricane Katrina](). More recently, in 2017, a [tornado struck the facility]() and tore holes in the roof and walls. "You could see it come in the parking lot," Stephen Doering, a NASA employee working on SLS, told the *Washington Post* at the time. "It took about a half a dozen cars and picked them up and knocked them over like rag dolls." Regardless of where the specific holes Nelson referenced came from, though, one thing is clear: the new head of NASA knows how to tell a story when he's asking for money. And if that gets NASA back to the Moon and beyond, that might be exactly the skillset he needs. **READ MORE:** [NASA seeking more than $10 billion in infrastructure bill]() \[*SpaceNews*\] **More on Bill Nelson:** [*Eight Facts About the New Head of NASA, Bill Nelson*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()