Timeline

 stennis space center

May 25, 1961 ... 

President John F. 

Kennedy challenges 

the United States to 

send humans to the 

Moon and return 

them safely by the 

end of the decade.

May 17, 1963 ... Construction workers cut the first tree to start 

clearing an area for NASA’s new rocket engine test facility.

April 23, 1966 ... The space age 

arrives in Hancock County as 

operators at Stennis conduct the first-ever 

Saturn V rocket booster (S-II-T) test on the 

A-2 Test Stand. 

July 29, 1969 ... Astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human 

to set foot on the Moon. His Apollo 11 mission is powered by first- and 

second-stage Saturn V rocket boosters tested at Stennis. 

Sept. 9, 1970 ... NASA announces its 

Earth Resources Laboratory will be 

located at Stennis.

March 1, 1971 ... As the Apollo Program ends, 

NASA assigns responsibility for testing space 

shuttle main engines to Stennis.

June 24, 1975 ... The first-ever full-duration space shuttle 

main engine test is conducted at Stennis. 

May 28, 1976 ... A flag-raising ceremony marks 

official move of the Naval Oceanographic Program 

to Stennis.

April 21, 1978 ... The first test of the space shuttle Main 

Propulsion Test Article is conducted, which involves simultaneously firing three space shuttle main engines arranged in flight 

configuration.

Dec. 30, 1991 ... NASA designates Stennis as 

the Center of Excellence for large propulsion 

system testing.

May 1, 1994 ... 

Management of the 

space shuttle main 

engine test operations 

program is transferred 

from NASA’s Marshall 

Space Flight Center 

in Huntsville, Ala, to 

Stennis Space Center. 

Feb. 21, 1997 ... Stennis 

is designated as NASA’s 

lead center for implementing commercial remote 

sensing activities.

Aug. 8, 1998 ... All four large test 

stands – A-1, A-2 and B-1/B-2 – are 

occupied for the first time.

Jan. 21, 2004 ... A test firing at Stennis marks 1 million seconds 

of space shuttle main engine test and flight operations.

Aug. 20, 1990 ... Space shuttle main engine tests are conducted 

for the first time on all three Stennis test stands on the same day.

July 24, 1992 ... Stennis operators 

conduct the 2,000th test firing of a 

space shuttle main engine.

May 30, 1996 ... NASA designates 

Stennis as its lead center to manage 

capabilities and assets for rocket 

propulsion testing.

July 27, 1998 ... 

Activation is 

initiated on the E-1 

Component Test 

Facility, a 

world-class, 

high-pressure 

cryogenic test 

structure at Stennis.

Aug. 5, 2002 ... Ribbons are cut on three new Stennis 

facilities, valued at more than $60 million, for Lockheed 

Martin, the U.S. Navy and the Naval Oceanographic 

Office.

Aug. 11, 2005 ... Stennis 

marks 30 years of space 

shuttle main engine testing 

with an afternoon firing on the 

A-2 Test Stand.

Aug. 29, 2005 ... 

Hurricane Katrina 

makes landfall, 

battering southeast 

Louisiana and the 

Mississippi Gulf Coast. 

Tracking maps show 

the storm’s eye 

passing directly over 

Stennis, inflicting 

damage to several 

facilities. After the 

storm, Stennis serves 

as a key relief/recovery 

location for area 

residents.

April 21, 2006 ... A space shuttle 

main engine test marks the 40th 

anniversary of rocket engine 

testing at Stennis.

Sept. 29, 2006 ... Operators conduct the final 

space shuttle main engine test for the A-1 Test 

Stand. In early November, the stand is officially 

handed over to begin testing the 

next-generation J-2X engine.

May 8, 2008 ... Stennis engineers 

successfully complete an initial 

series of tests on Powerpack 

1A, which is a key component of 

the next-generation J-2X rocket 

engine in development.

July 29, 2009 ... 

The final space 

shuttle main 

engine is tested 

at Stennis, 

ending 34 years 

of testing flight 

engines for 135 

shuttle missions. 

Aug. 2010 ... The Stennis Education Office develops Mass vs. Weight, its 

first-ever teaching curriculum. It offers a series of hands-on activities to help 

educate students about mass and weight concepts. A year later, in support 

of the curriculum, Stennis hosts area students to dialogue with International 

Space Station astronauts during the facility’s first-ever live video feed from 

the orbiting ISS.

May 2, 2011 ... The main administration building at Stennis is named in memory of 

late site Director Roy S. Estess.

Oct. 22, 2008 ... Operators at Stennis’ A-2 

Test Stand conduct a final certification test 

on engine No. 2061, the last space shuttle 

main flight engine scheduled to be built. 

June 2, 2009 ... NASA officials and visiting dignitaries 

open the new Emergency Operations Center at Stennis to 

house the facility’s medical clinic, fire department, security 

services, energy management control system and incident 

command post.

Nov. 10, 2010 ... Stennis conducts 

first successful test of the Aerojet 

AJ26 engine for Orbital Sciences 

Corporation. The AJ26 will power 

commercial cargo transport flights 

to the International Space Station. July 26, 2011 ... Stennis operators conduct 

a successful ignition test of the nextgeneration J-2X rocket engine. 

Aug. 11, 2011 ... The visit of the STS-135 space 

shuttle Atlantis crew marks the close of NASA’s Space 

Shuttle Program for Stennis. The crew returned to 

Earth on July 21, completing the final flight in the 

30-year shuttle program.

May 2011 ... The Stennis Applied Science and 

Technology Project Office provides invaluable 

satellite data on water and sediment flow after 

Louisiana officials open the Morganza and 

Bonnet Carre spillways to control Mississippi 

River flooding.

and the journey continues ...

August 7, 2014 ... NASA takes a 

big step forward in preparations to 

test its new Space Launch System 

core stage with a 20-foot 

repositioning of the Main 

Propulsion Test Article (MPTA) 

structure on the B-2 Test Stand 

at Stennis. The 61-foot-high, 

1.2-million-pound MPTA, built for 

testing Apollo/Saturn rocket stages, 

was shifted to accommodate the 

larger SLS core stage.

Jan. 9, 2015 ... Stennis tests an RS-25 rocket engine for 

500 seconds on the A-1 Test Stand, providing critical data 

on the engine controller unit and inlet pressure conditions. 

The test is the first of an RS-25 engine since the end of 

space shuttle main engine testing. in 2009. 

April 21, 2014 – NASA and Space Exploration Technologies 

Corp. (SpaceX) cut the ribbon at the E-2 Test Stand at 

Stennis Space Center to launch a partnership to test 

components of the company’s methane-fueled Raptor rocket 

engine.

Aug. 2015 ... The last of 

three levels of structural 

steel is added to the B-2 

Test Stand, extending its 

framework 100 feet higher 

and marking another step 

renovating the stand for 

Space Launch System core 

stage testing.

Aug. 27, 2015 ... Stennis completes the 

first developmental test series on the RS-25 

engines that will help power the core stage of 

NASA’s new Space Launch System.

Jan. 16, 2021

... The SLS core 

stage’s four RS-25 

engines fire for the 

first time together 

during the initial 

Green Run hot fire 

test, generating 

a combined 1.6 

million pounds of 

sea-level thrust for 

approximately one 

minute.

April 20, 2021 ... NASA removes the 

Space Launch System core stage for 

the Artemis I Moon mission from its 

Stennis test stand.

May 3, 2019 ... Following its arrival on 

the Pegsus barge, the Space Launch 

System core stage Pathfinder was 

rolled out behind the B-2 Test Stand at 

Stennis.

Aug. 29, 2019 ... 

Stennis lift teams 

set the Space 

Launch System core 

stage pathfinder 

in place on the 

B-2 Test Stand as 

training for lifting 

the actual flight test 

article for Green 

Mar. 18, 2021 ... Four RS-25 

engines fire for 500 seconds during 

the second Green Run hot fire test 

of the Space Launch System core 

stage.