John C. Stennis Space Center

John C. Stennis Space Center
The B-1/B-2 Test Stand holding space shuttle components (1987)
Agency overview
Formed	1961
Preceding agencies	Mississippi Test Operations National Space Technology Laboratories
Jurisdiction	U.S. federal government
Headquarters	Hancock County, Mississippi
Agency executive	Patrick Scheuermann, director
Parent agency	NASA
Website
Stennis Space Center home page

The John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC), located in Hancock County, Mississippi, at the Mississippi-Louisiana border, is NASA's largest rocket engine test facility.

History

The initial requirements for NASA's proposed rocket testing facility required the site to be located between the rockets' manufacturing facility at Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans, Louisiana and the launch facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also, the site required barge access as the rocket motors to be tested for Apollo were too large for overland transport.

The selected area was thinly populated and met all other requirements; however before construction began, five small communities (Gainesville, Logtown, Napoleon, Santa Rosa and Westonia, plus the northern portion of Pearlington) with 700 families had to be completely relocated off the facility. Remnants of the communities, including city streets and a one-room school house, still exist within the facility.

The 13,500 acres (55 km²) site was selected on October 25, 1961 on the Mississippi Test Facility or Pearl River Site. On December 18, 1961 NASA officially designated the facility as NASA Mississippi Test Operations. The test area (officially known as the Fee Area) is surrounded by a 125,000 acres (506 km²) acoustical buffer zone. The facility's large concrete and metal test stands were originally used to test-fire the first and second stages of the Saturn V rockets. All Space Shuttle Main Engines were flight-certified at Stennis. The facility was renamed again to Mississippi Test Facility on July 1, 1965, became a part of the Marshall Space Flight Center on June 14, 1974 and renamed National Space Technology Laboratories a name that continued until May 20, 1988 when it was renamed for Mississippi senator and space program supporter John C. Stennis.

With the end of the Apollo program, use of the base decreased, with economic impact to the surrounding communities. Over the years other government organizations have moved to the facility, providing a major economic benefit to the communities.

In the 1990s, a new test complex named "E" was constructed to test a variety of new engine concepts. A series of tests conducted there eventually led to the commercialization of hybrid rocket motors, one of which was used to power the first privately funded spaceship, Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne.

Two 250,000 gallon water tanks at the facility, used to test equipment for the Navy, were used to film the underwater sequences in the film Double Jeopardy.^{[citation needed]}

The facility was damaged in late August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina.^{[citation needed]} In 2007 Rolls-Royce plc opened an outdoor aero engine test facility at John C. Stennis. The test stand is built on the old H1 test bed, Rolls-Royce relocated their engine testing facility from Hucknall near its main Derby site in the UK due to noise pollution issues.

Test stands

The Engineering & Science Directorate (ESD) at SSC operates and maintains SSC's rocket test stands.

A-1

The A-1 test stand was originally designed to test the Apollo Saturn V Second Stage (S-II). It supports a maximum dynamic load of 1.7 M lbf.

A-2

The A-2 test stand is used for Space Shuttle Main Engine testing. It supports a maximum dynamic load of 1.1 M lbf.^{[citation needed]}

A-3

NASA has begun construction of the new A-3 test stand at SSC. The A-3 stand will be used for testing J-2X engines under vacuum conditions simulating high altitude operation. A-3 will also be operable as a sea-level test facility.

B-1/B-2

The B-1/B-2 test stand is a dual-position stand supporting a maximum dynamic load of 11M lbf. It was originally built to simultaneously test the five F-1 engines of a complete Saturn-V S1-C first stage. During the shuttle era it was modified to test the Space Shuttle Main Engine(SSME). It is currently used for Delta IV rocket engine testing.

E-Complex

The E-Complex supports testing of small engine and single/multiple components.

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  Shuttle main engine test in the A-1 Test Stand.

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  Construction of the A-2 Test Stand.

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  A-3 test stand under construction in March 2011.

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  Test firing of a Space Shuttle main engine in the A-1 Test Stand.

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  Installation of a 35,000-gallon liquid oxygen tank atop the A-3 Test Stand.

Facilities

In 2005, the Center was home to over 30 government agencies and private companies. By far the largest of these were elements of the United States Navy with some 3,500 personnel, which was far larger than the NASA civil servant contingent. Some of the prominent resident agencies include:^{[citation needed]}

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Data Buoy Center
• A branch of the Naval Research Laboratory
• The Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space and Technology Center
• The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command
• The Naval Oceanographic Office
• Navy Special Boat Team 22 and NAVSCIATTS (Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School).
• The University of Southern Mississippi's High Performance Visualization Center
• Rolls-Royce Outdoor Engine Testing Centre
• The US Geological Survey Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility
• Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant

StenniSphere

The visitor center for the Stennis Space Center is known as StenniSphere. Exhibits focus on the activities of NASA, space, space exploration, science, geography, weather and more. Visitors 18 and over must present a photo ID. The StenniSphere will be closed to the public, beginning February 15, 2012.

External links

• Official website
• Lagniappe official newsletter
• Movie of a test for a 250K hybrid rocket motor
• High Performance Visualization Center homepage
• National Data Buoy Center
• Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command
• Robot Science Group