ULA Decatur Plant, Alabama

The biggest satellite launching rockets used for many years have been the Atlas V, and Delta IV. They are more than 200 feet tall, and are built in stages, assembled at the 1.6 million square foot United Launch Alliance plant in Decatur, Alabama. They are too large to travel over highways or fit in planes, like some smaller rocket components, so a special ship, the 300 foot long Delta Mariner, built for this purpose with a cavernous loading bay, brings them down the Tennessee River from Decatur, ultimately into the Gulf, then to either the west or east coast launch sites at Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg.