HITT Contracting, the country’s eighth-largest contractor by revenue, broke ground alongside NASA on the space agency’s Applied Spaceflight Fabrication Facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the contractor announced on Nov. 3. HITT will act as general contractor on the build, which turned dirt on Oct. 27.
The facility, also known as Building 70, is an approximately 37,625-square-foot greenfield initiative that will include a high-bay machine shop to produce components for NASA spaceflight missions, per the announcement. It will consolidate machining equipment and operations, which are currently spread out across venues, into one location and marks the first phase of a larger engineering complex.
“Building for precision manufacturing starts with understanding how the space needs to perform,” said Todd Hudson, vice president at HITT Contracting, in the announcement. “Our team brings the technical expertise and collaborative approach to deliver a facility that meets the Johnson Space Center’s needs today and supports the next generation of spaceflight innovation.”
The project is just one part of the $300 million contract at Johnson Space Center, which HITT is working on alongside six other firms. Overall, HITT will work with NASA to meet the project’s specialized equipment and operational requirements, per the firm.
About 250 HITT personnel and trade partners are anticipated to work on the project site, Hudson told Construction Dive via email. Construction is expected to finish in August 2028.
Alongside that groundbreaking, HITT has also won a separate project at the Space Center to renovate Building 13 South, Hudson said. That project is also a part of the $300 million umbrella contract.
“Planned renovations will address aging infrastructure, accommodate evolving testing needs, improve operational reliability, and meet safety and code requirements, while maintaining ongoing operations where required,” Hudson said.
