This week in 1961, the federal government announced the selection of Hancock County, Mississippi, to be the site of static testing for the Saturn Program. The site along the Pearl River was originally designated Mississippi Test Operations and was operated by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center until it became an independent NASA installation in 1988 and was renamed Stennis Space Center. Here, the Saturn V S-II, or second stage, is test fired in the facility’s S-II test stand. The S-II stage of the Saturn V used five J-2 engines, each producing 200,000 pounds of thrust. Today, Marshall is developing NASA’s Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever built, capable of sending astronauts to the Moon, Mars and deeper into space than ever before. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage. (NASA)