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NASA Administrator Visits Stennis Space Center for Annual State of NASA Event

photo from State of NASA Event
Against a backdrop of an American flag and a pair of RS-25 engines, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks to employees gathered at the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility at Stennis Space Center to hear the annual State of NASA address Feb. 10. Stennis is testing Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines that will be used to help power NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket. Credits: NASA/SSC
photo from State of NASA Event
Stennis Space Center Director Rick Gilbrech speaks to employees gathered at the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility on site to hear NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine deliver the annual State of NASA address Feb. 10. Credits: NASA/SSC

NASA Administrator visited Stennis Space Center on Feb. 10 to deliver his annual State of NASA address and roll out “one of the strongest budgets” in agency history.

“I cannot think of a better place to roll out NASA’s 2021 budget request than right here, where we are ushering in a civilization-changing era of human spaceflight,” Bridenstine said, following an introduction by Stennis Director Rick Gilbrech.

The NASA leader reported that the president’s fiscal year 2021 budget request delivered to Congress includes more than $25 billion for NASA, a 12 percent increase that would keep the agency firmly on track in its work to launch Artemis program missions and the next great era of space exploration.

He reviewed NASA efforts across a range of areas, from space exploration to a continued human presence on the International Space Station to robotics missions to technology development to science and aeronautics. “We must build on our success by continuing to devote ourselves to the agency mission,” he said.

The annual State of NASA address was broadcast live on NASA TV from the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility at Stennis.

photo from State of NASA Event
Stennis Space Center employees gathered for the annual State of NASA address Feb. 10 watch a video featuring astronaut Raja Chari (left) and NASA engineer Dawn Davis, chief of the electrical engineering branch of the Stennis Engineering and Test Directorate. Credits: NASA/SSC
photo from State of NASA Event
Stennis Director of Test Operations Maury Vander speaks to traditional and social media representatives during State of NASA activities Feb. 10. In the background, one can see the first Space Launch System core stage installed on the B-2 Test Stand. Credits: NASA/SSC

During his remarks, Bridenstine focused squarely on work underway at the center to test the engines and first core stage of the agency’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The SLS core stage was installed on the B-2 Test Stand last month, and crews recently completed the first in a series of scheduled top-to-bottom tests. Testing will culminate with a firing of the stage’s four RS-25 engines, generating 2 million pounds of thrust, just as during an actual launch.

photo from State of NASA Event
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (left) and Stennis Space Center Director Rick Gilbrech speak with media representatives following the annual State of NASA address at the south Mississippi site Feb. 10. Credits: NASA/SSC

“You just heard the center director say that we’re going to the Moon by 2024,” Bridenstine said, pointing to an image of the installed core stage on the B-2 stand. “The rocket in the B-2 Test Stand is, in fact, the Moon. That is the SLS rocket core stage complete. We’re doing the Green Run right here at Stennis … and we’re going to be taking that rocket to the Moon when we launch Artemis I.”

Bridenstine cited various areas of progress in the Artemis program effort to return humans, including the first woman, to the Moon and to prepare for an eventual mission to Mars. “The milestones we hit this year … will place us on the cusp of era-defining space exploration,” he said. And the science and technology we are working on right now will prepare us in this new exploration to take humanity’s next giant leap to Mars. …

“We are the Artemis generation, and we are going.”

Prior to his remarks, Gilbrech praised the NASA leader’s work to “inspire and enable the NASA family and the public to dream, to dare and to drive forward. …

“The excitement is palpable here at Stennis as we have an actual flight stage in our test stand for the first time in over 49 years,” he noted. “This is one of the most exciting times I have experienced in my 28-year NASA career.”

To view the State of NASA address, visit:

For information about Stennis Space Center, visit:

Lacy Thompson
Stennis Space Center, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
228-688-3749
calvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov