H. Res. 948

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

September 26, 2006.

Whereas, during Hurricane Katrina, some 3,700 persons (including employees, their immediate and extended families, and members of the general public), sought shelter 

at the Stennis Space Center; 

Whereas the Stennis cafeteria, which normally serves about 

175 breakfasts and 600 lunches each day, served 3,000 

meals 3 times a day to evacuees, for a period of a week 

following the storm; 

Whereas before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of 

the storm, the small staff of the Stennis Medical Clinic 

provided medical care to all who needed it among the 

evacuees onsite, including some 20 special needs patients, 

and soon after the storm, the Stennis clinic staff was 

complemented by medical personnel airlifted from other 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Centers; 

Whereas, although commercial electrical power was not available to Stennis for 10 days following the storm, electrical 

power was maintained to all essential buildings through 

the extensive use of diesel-powered generators and the 

around the clock efforts of a team of individuals who mechanically maintained those generators and kept them 

fueled, also enabling the pumps on Stennis’ deep-water 

wells to provide a continuous supply of potable water for 
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drinking, cooking, and sanitation to support the 3,700 

people onsite; 

Whereas a team of employees in the Stennis rocket propulsion test complex protected the health of all test infrastructure, employing innovative methods to ensure an uninterrupted supply of purge gases to all required facility 

infrastructure and test hardware, failure of which would 

have resulted in untold millions of dollars of new costs 

to clean, purge, and recertify these facilities for Space 

Shuttle Main Engine and other propulsion system testing; 

Whereas for 10 days following the storm, logistical support 

(including food, water, medical supplies, and personnel 

exchange) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans was 

provided via helicopters operating from the Stennis Space 

Center, along with helicopters, and flight crew and security personnel, from the Marshall Space Flight and Kennedy Space Centers; and 

Whereas, immediately following the storm, Stennis Space 

Center facilitated the use of its property as the site of 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Incident 

Command Center serving a 6-county area along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Stennis served as the central distribution hub for disaster response supplies to those same 

counties, including, during the nearly 2-months of Federal Emergency Management Agency relief operations at 

Stennis, distributing more than 7,600,000 gallons of 

water, 41,000,000 pounds of ice, and 3,500,000 MREs 

(meals-ready-to-eat) to devastated areas via the Stennis 

Space Center hub: Now, therefore, be it 
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Resolved, That the House of Representatives commends 

the dedication of the employees who stayed behind at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Stennis Space 

Center, who, during and after Hurricane Katrina’s assault on 

Mississippi, provided shelter and medical care to storm evacuees and logistical support for storm recovery efforts, while 

effectively maintaining critical facilities at the Center, including Cheryl Bennett, James Bevis, Terry Bordelon, Steve 

Brettel, Vicki Brown, Bill Brumfield, Kirt Bush, Paul Byrd, 

Ethan Calder, Marla Carpenter, David Carstens, Jonathan 

Clemens, Eric Crawford, Cheri Cuevas, John Davenport, 

David Del Santo, Isaac DeLancey, Jim Freeman, Greg Garrett, Dave Geiger, Stan Gill, Don Griffith, Haynes 

Haselmaier, Coby Holloway, Gay Irby, Manning ‘‘JJ’’ Jones, 

Catriona Ladner, David Ladner, Richard Ladner, Stanley 

Lee, Michelle Logan, Ron Magee, Sharlene Majors, Steve 

McCord, Pat McCullough, Michael McDaniel, Mike 

McKinion, Kirk Miller, John Mitchell, Ron Moore, David R. 

Oakes, Kevin A. Oliver, Alan Phillips, John Nick Pitalo, 

Allen Price, Porter Pryor, Margaret Roberts, Miguel 

Rodriguez, Jason Saucier, Dale Sewell, Donald Seymore, 

Kathy Slade, Sue Smith, David Throckmorton, Karen 
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Vander, John Waquespack, Rodney Wilkinson, Robert Williams, and Michael J. Witt. 

Attest:

Clerk.