NASA STENNIS

HISTORY
www.nasa.gov http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/

When President John F. Kennedy issued his 1961 challenge for 

the United States to send humans to the Moon and back by the 

end of that decade, a site was needed to test the powerful rocket 

engines and stages that would propel them on the historic journey.

For NASA officials, the rough terrain of Hancock County, 

Mississippi, provided five essentials for testing the large Apollo 

Program engines and stages: isolation from large population 

centers, water and road access for transportation, available public 

utilities, supporting local communities, and a climate conducive 

to year-round testing. The site was selected – and in May 1963, 

workers cut the first tree to launch a daunting building project. 

The effort marked the largest construction effort in the state of 

Mississippi and one of the largest in the United States at the time. 

Despite a pressing schedule, inevitable setbacks and even the 

disruption of Hurricane Betsy in 1965, construction workers 

prevailed. On April 23, 1966, a Saturn V second-stage prototype 

was test-fired on the newly completed A-2 Test Stand at the site. 

With the shake, rattle and roar of the test, south Mississippi was 

blasted into the space age.

Until 1970, NASA’s Stennis Space Center est-fired first and 

second stages of the Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo 

Program. It then tested main engines for NASA’s space shuttle. 

From 1975 to 2009, the south Mississippi site tested every main 

engine used to power 135 space shuttle missions. 

NASA Stennis now is testing RS-25 rocket engines for the SLS 

(Space Launch System), being built to carry humans back to the 

Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis missions and, ultimately, to Mars. 

It tested the core stage that powered the maiden Artemis I mission 

and will test all RS-25 engines that will help launch future Artemis 

missions to deep space. 

In addition to that testing, the center is partnering with private 

companies to test engines and components for various 

commercial and military missions.

Into its sixth decade of NASA support, NASA Stennis continues to 

build on its rich history as the nation’s largest rocket engine test 

site – a place where space dreams are powered into reality.

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Saturn V rocket stages 

were tested at NASA’s 

Stennis Space Center, 

including stages that carried 

the first humans to the 

surface of the Moon during 

the Apollo 11 mission. 

2,307

Space shuttle main engine 

tests were conducted 

at NASA Stennis from May 

19, 1975 to July 29, 2009, 

totaling 820,475.68 seconds 

of hot fire.

1 million

Seconds of space shuttle 

main engine hot fire – 

including tests and launches 

– was achieved during a 

test on the A-2 Test Stand 

at NASA Stennis on 

January 24, 2004.

16

On April 4, 2019, NASA 

Stennnis completed testing 

of all 16 former space 

shuttle main engines that 

will power the first four 

flights of NASA’s new 

SLS (Space Launch 

System) rocket, including 

the mission that carries the 

first woman and the first 

person of color to the Moon. Front image: NASA conducts its first test at then-Mississippi Test Facility 

(now NASA’s Stennis Space Center) on April 23, 1966, on the A-2 Test Stand.