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Top NASA Leaders Nelson and Melroy Visit Stennis Space Center

The headshot image of LaToya Dean

LaToya Dean

Dec 09, 2021
RELEASES21-046

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy visited Stennis Space Center on Dec. 7, meeting with Stennis Director Rick Gilbrech and other site leaders, and also touring various center facilities.

The leaders toured the Fred Haise Test Stand, B-2 Test Stand, and E Test Complex, as well as the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility, where they were joined by area media for an interview session.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (blue jackets) discuss engine testing with Jeff Henderson, director of the Fred Haise Test Stand at Stennis Space Center, during a site visit Dec. 7. The NASA officials were able to view RS-25 developmental engine No. 0525, installed on the Stennis stand for a new series of hot fire tests. Also shown are Stennis Deputy director John Bailey (second from right) and Stennis Associate Director Mary Byrd. Credits: NASA/SSC
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Stennis Space Center Director Rick Gilbrech (r) joins NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (l) and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (center) in viewing a scaled model of the B-2 Test Stand on display in the Roy S. Estess Building at Stennis. Nelson and Melroy visited the south Mississippi site Dec. 7. Credits: NASA/SSC
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Freddie Douglas (l), deputy director of the Stennis Space Center Engineering and Test Directorate, greets NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during the agency leader’s visit to Stennis on Dec. 7. Credits: NASA/SSC
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Ryan Roberts, B-2 Test Stand director at Stennis Space Center, greets NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (l) during the agency leader’s visit to Stennis on Dec. 7. Stennis Test Operations Chief Maury Vander joined Roberts in leading Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy on a tour of the B-2 stand, where Green Run testing of the first Space Launch System core stage was conducted during 2020-21. Credits: NASA/SSC
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Chris Mulkey, director of the E-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center, discusses ongoing test projects with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (light blue jackets) during a site visit Dec. 7. Nelson and Melroy visited Stennis to meet with site leaders and leadership groups, and also to tour various center facilities, including the E Test Complex. Credits: NASA/SSC

Nelson and Melroy both praised Stennis as a “national treasure,” noting the key role the center is playing in the agency’s Artemis plans to return humans, including the first woman and first person of color to the Moon in preparation for eventual missions to Mars.

Stennis is testing RS-25 engines that will help power NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on deep space missions. Earlier this year, the site also tested the first SLS core stage prior to its upcoming Artemis I launch.

“This is an exciting point in our nation’s space history, and a lot of it is happening right here (at Stennis),” Nelson said as he and Melroy visited with media in front of an RS-25 engine at the Aerojet Rocketdyne facility. “Come February, engines like this are going to roar to life, … and we’re going back to the Moon.”

In addition to promoting the U.S. space program, Nelson and Melroy highlighted benefits that both NASA and Stennis would receive under President Biden’s Build Back Better framework, including major improvements to modernize center infrastructure, and funding NASA secured in the recently-passed funding law that will help Stennis repair damage caused by Hurricane Ida.

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Stennis Space Center Deputy Director John Bailey (center) discusses ongoing E Test Complex work with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy during the officials’ visit to the south Mississippi site Dec. 7. Nelson and Melroy visited Stennis Space Center to meet with site leaders and leadership groups, and also to tour various center facilities, including the E Test Complex. Credits: NASA/SSC
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Dawn Davis (l), chief of the Stennis Space Center Office of Technology Development, visits with NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy during the NASA leader’s visit to Stennis on Dec. 7. Credits: NASA/SSC
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (second from right) and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (second from left) visit with Aerojet Rocketdyne leaders Jim Maser and Mike McDaniel, respectively, during a visit to Stennis Space Center on Dec. 7. During the day, Nelson and Melroy met with various site leaders and leadership groups, and also toured center facilities, including the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility. Credits: NASA/SSC
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NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy stands in front of an RS-25 engine that helped power all three of her space shuttle missions (STS-92 in 2000, STS-112 in 2002, and STS-120 in 2007. The former space shuttle main engine has been upgraded and is scheduled to fly again on the Artemis III mission that will carry astronauts, including the first woman, to the Moon aboard NASA’s Space Launch System. Credits: NASA/SSC
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (l) and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy speak to media during the officials’ visit to Stennis Space Center on Dec. 7. Nelson and Melroy both praised Stennis as a “national treasure” during their visit with media at the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility on-site. Credits: NASA/SSC
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Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise, a native of Biloxi, Miss. (center), visits with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (r) and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy during the officials’ visit to Stennis Space Center on Dec. 7. Credits: NASA/SSC

To close the day, the leaders participated in a ceremony commemorating the March 2020 designation of the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis as the Fred Haise Test Stand. The designation honors Haise, a Biloxi, Mississippi, native, who served as the lunar module pilot on the famed Apollo 13 mission in 1970 and has been a steadfast supporter of the American space program, NASA, Stennis, and the INFINITY Science Center.

During the ceremony, Nelson and others praised Haise as a true American hero. “As long as humans dream of the stars, as long as this nation reaches beyond its bounds, as long as astronauts dare to go, they will dream and reach and go in the shadow of pioneers like Fred W. Haise,” Gilbrech noted.

The visit marked Nelson’s first trip to Stennis since he became NASA administrator in late April.

C. Lacy Thompson
Stennis Space Center
228-363-5499
calvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov