January 12, 2005

NASA Public Affairs Office
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-3341
RELEASE: JTE-05-009

STENNIS CELEBRATES HISTORIC YEAR IN 2004, LOOKS FORWARD TO 2005

NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC) experienced an eventful year in 
2004, working to return the Space Shuttle to flight and celebrating 
major milestone anniversaries.

The year began with new leadership. SSC Center Director Adm. Thomas Q. 
Donaldson V, USN (Ret.) took the helm of the space center on Jan. 5, 
2004. Adm. Donaldson was previously the Commander, Naval Meteorology 
and Oceanography Command, one of the more than 30 agencies on site as 
part of the “federal city” at SSC.

Applause rang out in the StenniSphere auditorium Jan. 14 as employees 
watched President George W. Bush unveil the Vision for Space 
Exploration from NASA Headquarters in Washington. These goals include 
safely returning the Space Shuttle to flight and completing the 
International Space Station by 2010, and then developing a new 
spacecraft to replace the Space Shuttle. The new craft will be used 
to return to the Moon by 2020, and forging on to Mars and worlds 
beyond.

Throughout the year, the Propulsion Test Directorate at SSC worked 
toward NASA's first goal in completing the Vision for Space 
Exploration: returning the Space Shuttle to flight. The Shuttle 
Discovery's three engines were tested and proven flight-worthy in 
2004, passing final acceptance tests on March 26, July 16 and August 
19.

On Oct. 5, SSC shipped the last of the three Space Shuttle Main 
Engines (SSMEs) to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for installation on 
Space Shuttle Discovery for its STS-114 mission. This mission, 
scheduled for late spring, is NASA's return to flight after the loss 
of Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

"For almost 30 years, the safety and reliability of the Space Shuttle 
Main Engine has been demonstrated through testing at Stennis," said 
Adm. Donaldson. "We can all watch Discovery lift off with the pride 
of a job well-done, and the confidence that those engines will 
perform as flawlessly as ever."

In further Return to Flight preparations, SSC simulated conditions 
typical of Space Shuttle launch days to see what kinds of ice and 
frost form on the foam insulation of the super-cooled External Tank. 
Because debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia's External Tank led to 
the loss of the orbiter, NASA initiated an effort to determine 
sources of debris that could impact the Shuttle orbiters and cause 
critical damage.

The experiment was conducted in a specially constructed facility. Just 
three weeks before foam test panels were delivered Oct. 27, the 
facility was an empty parking lot. A portable building was relocated 
to the site and then modified to accommodate equipment to control the 
temperature and humidity, and to monitor the tests. To simulate 
launch conditions, engineers at SSC mounted four 2-foot-by-2-foot 
panels on a metal frame, and then froze them with liquid helium or 
liquid nitrogen.

A landmark in the Space Shuttle program was achieved Jan. 21 at SSC: 
the 1 millionth second of successful testing and flight operations of 
the Space Shuttle Main Engine. The roar of the engine and its 
signature plume of water vapor began around 3:30 p.m. and ran for 8 ½ 
minutes, the length of time it takes three SSMEs to propel the Space 
Shuttle from liftoff to orbit.

Those in attendance included NASA Associate Administrator for the 
Office of Space Flight William Readdy , Space Shuttle Program Manager 
Bill Parsons, astronauts Jerry Ross and Chris Ferguson, Marshall 
Space Flight Center Director Dave King, Johnson Space Center Director 
Gen. Jefferson Howell, Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy, 
NASA program officers, civic leaders, school children and SSC 
employees and their families. Following the successful test, the 
astronauts presented SSC's Test Control Center crew with 
commemorative plaques that included U.S. flags flown aboard Space 
Shuttle Columbia.

"This 1 millionth-second test is a testimony to the NASA and 
contractor team that developed, tested and continues to improve the 
SSME to safely take humans to low Earth orbit," said Miguel 
Rodriguez, director of the Propulsion Test Directorate at SSC. "It is 
a huge sense of pride to the NASA and Boeing team that the engines, 
which SSC began testing in June 1975, have never experienced a major 
anomaly."

While NASA plans a return to the Moon, SSC relived the excitement of 
the United States' first Moon missions in the 1960s. July marked the 
35th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first landing of humans on the 
Moon on July 20, 1969. Celebrations at StenniSphere, the visitor 
center at SSC, included an Apollo exhibit and the planting of a "Moon 
Tree" descended from seeds taken to the Moon and back by Apollo 14 
astronaut and longtime Mississippi Gulf Coast resident Stuart Roosa.

In August, SSC hosted legends of the space program with visits from 
Mercury Astronauts Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and the late Gordon 
Cooper, three of the NASA's seven original astronauts, the group 
known for having "The Right Stuff." Accompanying the Mercury 
astronauts was Apollo Astronaut Al Worden, command module pilot for 
Apollo 15, the fourth lunar landing mission. The astronauts spoke 
about their missions, and their role in the Astronaut Scholarship 
Foundation, which raises funds to annually award a total of $170,000 
to 17 college students who exhibit exceptional performance in science 
and engineering.

Shortly after the astronauts' visit, Astronaut Cooper died at his home 
in Ventura, Calif., from natural causes. He was 77. The pioneer 
astronauts' trip was followed in October by a visit from NASA's 
newest crop of space explorers. Members of NASA's 2004 Astronaut 
Candidate Class were on hand to meet with employees and view a Space 
Shuttle Main Engine test firing at SSC. The 16 candidates, on a tour 
of NASA’s 10 centers, included three classroom teachers, as well as 
three astronauts from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Other projects at SSC are part of NASA's larger scientific exploration 
of the Earth – to advance understanding of the Earth-Sun system, to 
bring the lessons of the study of Earth to the exploration of our 
solar system and to understand how our planet and star are changing.

NASA scientists in SSC's Applied Sciences Directorate (ASD) 
participated in the Naval Research Laborartory’s Slope-to-Shelf 
Energetics and Exchange Dynamics (SEED) cruise in mid-November. While 
aboard, they used ASD's optical instrument profiling package to take 
measurements and water samples at several locations in the Gulf of 
Mexico. The scientists will be able to use the measurements and 
samples to determine the Mississippi River plume’s influence on the 
Gulf's waters.

With the new year, NASA employees at SSC look forward to the flight of 
Space Shuttle Discovery. Also upcoming is the appointment of a new 
head of NASA to replace Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who was recently 
named Chancellor of Louisiana State University. With the new goals of 
returning to the Moon and the development of a new spacecraft, 2005 
promises to be an exciting year at SSC.

	
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