Gilbrech Affirms Importance of Stennis
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Volume 11 Issue 1 www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis February 2016 Gilbrech affirms importance of Stennis Stennis Space Center Director Rick Gilbrech updates area leaders during executive director of the NASA Shared Services Center; and John Wilson, a community briefing session at INFINITY Science Center on Feb. 18. Vari- executive director of the INFINITY Science Center. In his remarks, Gilbrech ous Gulf Coast leaders attended the annual briefing, which also featured emphasized the key role Stennis plays in supporting the American space updates from Bill Burnett, deputy commander and technical director of program, cited the positive economic role Stennis plays in its area and as- the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command; Mark Glorioso, sured leaders that the site is committed to growing its missions. Bolden reviews State of NASA See Page 4 Page 2 LAGNIAPPE February 2016 “You know, every action we take is important. It touches someone or changes something. ... We ought not to take that responsibility lightly.” rk! I feel like Rip Van Winkle himself, who But only a bit – because as much as everything has slept some 20 years to awaken and find the changed, the more I look around, the more I realize whole world changed around him. It has everything is the same. I mean, there are still people Abeen almost that long since I last visited Stennis Space here with the same names as 50 years ago, second- and Center, making my last appearance as the summer of third-generation folk still doing good, hard work. 1998 drew to its usual sweltering hot close. It was a real surprise – a real good one! – to receive an invita- Sure, there are new agencies and organizations here tion from Director Rick Gilbrech to come back to the now, but the “this-before-all-else” mission of the Stennis family as his guest columnist for 2016. place remains the same as it was when we were start- ing – keep our space program flying. I jumped at the chance, since I was here at the start and now will be here to celebrate the 50th anniversary I remember watching those Apollo and space shuttle of the very first engine test at Stennis this year. I re- launches with real pride. I was part of making them member that test and everything that led up to it, like possible; everybody out here was, whether they were the mosquito invasion of ’63. Goodness, the mosqui- an engineer or custodian or accountant. It made no tos were so big you were never sure if it was a plane difference; they were a part of it because they were flying by your head or not. I saw a kid flying a drone part of making this place possible – and this place in a field the other day and had flashbacks. made those flights possible. I remember 1965, too, when Hurricane Betsy decided A friend and I were fishing on the Pearl River out to play an unwelcome visit and tried to undo a lot of behind the Cypress House not too many years before the good, hard work we already had done. Through I bid farewell for a season. We were talking about those years and others, I watched Stennis change just that idea, and I said something he wrote down to names and grow until it became a city unto itself, remember. I came across it the other day while reading home to all kinds of fine companies and groups. All some of his letters. “You know, every single action in all, I was in and out and around this place for more we take is important,” I said. “It touches someone or than 30 years, though I kept a pretty low profile for changes something. And whether we realize it or not, the first 14 or 15 years. What an interesting time it we are the force behind all that this universe offers. was, with more stories than I could tell. We ought not to take that responsibility lightly.” It is so good to be back. I kept up with Stennis I cannot rightly say where the thought came from, ex- happenings but still could not have imagined all cept that nature has an inspiring way. I can rightly say the changes. Rip went to sleep in a British colony we all understood we were part of something pretty and woke up in a whole new United States. Walking important back then, and it made us work that much around here and seeing all the new buildings and hear- harder and walk that much taller for doing so. ing about all the new projects and programs makes me understand a bit of how he must have felt. It’s good to see that has not changed. Lagniappe is published monthly by the Office of Communications at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center. Access monthly copies at: www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/publications/index.html Contact info – (phone) 228-688-3749; (email) [email protected]; (mail) NASA OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS, Attn: LAGNIAPPE, Mail code IA00, Building 1100 Room 304, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 Managing Editor – Valerie Buckingham Editor – Lacy Thompson Staff Photographer – Danny Nowlin Page 3 LAGNIAPPE February 2016 Stennis set for busy 2016 test schedule et set for March to enter with plenty of roar as • AR1 testing on E-1 Test Stand. Aerojet Rocketdyne engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center pre- signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA last year Gpare for an active spring and summer of rocket to test the preburner and main injector for its new engine testing. AR1 rocket engine at Stennis. The company is sched- uled to conduct a series of subscale tests on Cell 2 of “It’s shaping up to be a busier-than-average year as far the E-1 stand later this spring. Full-scale testing of as testing goes,” said Gary Benton, project management the AR1 components is planned during the summer chief in the Stennis Engineering and Test Directorate. on Cell 1 of the E-1 stand. The AR1 is being devel- “We have several active test programs involving various oped as an American booster engine that could help test articles on different stands.” end the U.S. dependence on foreign engines to launch payloads into space. Scheduled projects for the • remaining months of the Advanced Booster 2016 fiscal year include: Engineering Dem- onstration and Risk Reduction (ABEDRR) • RS-25 rocket engine testing on E-1 Test tests on the A-1 Test The ABEDRR Within weeks, Stand. Stand. effort is a joint project NASA will conduct between NASA and the its first test of an U.S. Air Force to develop RS-25 flight engine a 500K thrust hydrocar- (No. 2059) at Stennis, bon engine both could marking a major mile- use. Since the propellant stone in the agency’s requirements for the return to deep-space engine is similar to the exploration and its AR1, testing for the proj- Journey to Mars. The ect will follow the AR1 flight certification test series on Cell 1 of the will be followed by E-1 stand early this fall. a series of develop- mental engine tests • Novel Plume testing leading into fiscal year on the E-3 Test Stand. 2017. The novel plume project is an in-house effort by • RS-68 rocket engine NASA researchers and tests on the B-1 Test engineers to manipulate RS-68 engines Stand. NASA engineers conduct a novel plume test on the E-3 Test Stand at Stennis engine plume in a way have been tested at Space Center. that reduces erosion of Stennis for more than the flame bucket. It has 15 years in support involved technology transfer resources and funding from of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV expendable various agency sources. Testing for the effort is scheduled launch vehicle. The test agreement continues this to continue on the E-3 stand this spring. year. • Space Launch System (SLS) core stage testing It all adds up to a full year of testing, with more to come on the B-2 Test Stand. Stennis has worked for the in fiscal year 2017. For instance, there is the possibility of past few years to prepare the B-2 stand for test- full-scale AR1 engine tests on the A-2 Test Stand and of ing the core stage that will fly on the uncrewed SLS additional SLS testing related to the vehicle’s upper stage. Exploration Mission-1 in 2018. Modification and After completing successful test series in 2014 and 2015 activation of the stand will continue in upcoming on components for the new Raptor rocket engine being months. Once completed, the SLS flight stage will be developed by SpaceX, there also is hope for additional installed on the stand next year and tested by firing test agreements with the company. all four of its RS-25 rocket engines simultaneously, just as during an actual launch. The SLS vehicle is be- “This is a great time to be at Stennis,” Benton said. ing developed by NASA to carry humans deeper into “There is so much happening on so many fronts. We are space than ever before, including such destinations as really supporting and enabling a lot of key space initia- an asteroid and Mars. tives, and I don’t see that changing as we move ahead.” Pages 4-5 LAGNIAPPE February 2016 FULFILLING NASA’S EXPLORATION MISSION Bolden – ‘The state of NASA is strong’ NASA in the News NASA Webb telescope mirror fully assembled The 18th and final primary mirror segment is installed on what will be the biggest and most powerful space telescope ever launched.