NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center cut the ribbon Aug. 24 on a new, storm-resistant Records Retention Facility that consolidates and protects records storage at the nation’s premier rocket engine test facility. This facility will also house history office operations.
“The opening of this dedicated records storage facility emphasizes the importance of record retention and data management,” said Dinna Cottrell, chief information officer at Stennis. “This facility ensures the required federal records are preserved, managed and accessible to all interested personnel.”
The new storage facility will house and protect the history and the historical documents related to Stennis and its rocket engine test work. It was designed to meet all specifications and storage criteria set forth by the National Archives and Records Administration. With completion of the new building in May, Stennis became the first NASA center to open a NARA-compliant storage facility.
Stennis leaders used Hurricane Katrina mitigation funds to renovate an existing building to meet the new codes. The 2005 storm damaged several Stennis facilities that previously housed records, highlighting the need for a more protective storage environment.
The records retention facility now serves as a central location for all NASA records at Stennis. It allows for maximum efficiency by combining records and records management personnel in the same location. The facility can accommodate 20,000 cubic feet of records storage and offers storm-resistant protection. It provides for storage and life-cycle management of inactive records of all media types; digitizing and scanning of various records and documents; non-textual/digital/electronic records media storage, migration and transfer; remediation of old records.
Stennis Space Center has been involved in the American space program since the early 1960s, when NASA selected the south Mississippi location as its primary rocket engine test site. Stennis tested all of the engines and rocket stages used in the manned Apollo Program that traveled to the moon. It also tested all of the engines used on more than 130 space shuttle missions.
For information about Stennis Space Center, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/.
Related Multimedia:
+https://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/releases/2010/CLT-10-195-cptn.html
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text-only version of this release
Rebecca Strecker, NASA News Chief
NASA Public Affairs Office
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-3249
Rebecca.A.Strecker@nasa.gov