Louisiana fabricator building portion of NASA launchpad

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Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. a steel fabricator and service provider to the industrial and energy sectors, is building components for NASA to support the Mobile Launcher 2 project.

Bechtel National Inc. awarded the contract. Gulf Island will create the structural components at its Houma fabrication facility for delivery to the project site at the Kennedy Space Center. The contract has an estimated value of less than $10 million and will be included in the Company’s new awards and backlog in the second quarter 2023.

The ML2 project is a vital part of NASA’s Artemis program and represents the ground structure used to support the Space Launch System rocket that will send astronauts and heavy cargo to the lunar surface. The Artemis program will help to establish a lunar gateway that will serve as a base for future lunar expeditions and will help to prove technologies that will enable future space travel to Mars.

The Gulf Island Fabrication team at work. (Courtesy Gulf Island Fabrication)

“Gulf Island is proud to support Bechtel and NASA on this important project that will help drive future advances in space exploration,” said Gulf Island President and CEO Richard Heo. “This award reflects our strategic focus on pursuing projects outside of our traditional offshore oil and gas markets, and highlights how we are well-positioned to support a broad range of end markets based on our track-record of execution, strategic location, and expertise in fabricating complex structures.”

Gulf Island is a fabricator of complex steel structures and modules and provider of specialty services. Customers include U.S. and, to a lesser extent, international energy producers; refining, petrochemical, LNG, industrial and power operators; and EPC companies.