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By NASA
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The group toured the south Mississippi NASA center on March 19, learning how NASA Stennis operates as NASA’s primary, and America’s largest, rocket propulsion test site to serve the nation and commercial sector with its unique capabilities and expertise.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The day included tours of test stands and facilities hosted by NASA Stennis test complex personnel. Visits included the Fred Haise Test Stand, where NASA Stennis tests RS-25 engines to help power NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond; the Thad Cochran Test Stand, where NASA Stennis will test NASA’s exploration upper stage for future Artemis missions; the E Test Complex, where NASA Stennis supports agency and commercial propulsion test activity; and the L3Harris Technologies (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, where RS-25 engines are produced.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The group also received overviews from site personnel on the Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office located at NASA Stennis, on lessons learned from testing at the E Test Complex, and on the NASA Data Acquisition System developed onsite.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The Rocket Test Group originally formed in response to a congressional demand for an ongoing working group crossing agency and company boundaries. It is a volunteer organization intended to allow rocket test facility operators to come together to recommend solutions for difficult testing problems; lower testing costs by reducing time spent on solving critical issues and eliminating duplicate programs; facilitate the activation of new facilities; learn from each other by viewing different methods and touring various facilities; provide a networking opportunity for testing advice and problem solving support; and allow test facility operators to stay informed on the newest developments.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.L3Harris TechnologiesView the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on a ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, during sunset. The one-of-a-kind aircraft is powered by a General Electric F414 engine, a variant of the engines used on F/A-18 fighter jets. The engine is mounted above the fuselage to reduce the number of shockwaves that reach the ground. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight and enable future commercial travel over land – faster than the speed of sound.Lockheed Martin Corporation/Garry Tice The team behind NASA’s X-59 completed another critical ground test in March, ensuring the quiet supersonic aircraft will be able to maintain a specific speed during operation. The test, known as engine speed hold, is the latest marker of progress as the X-59 nears first flight this year.
“Engine speed hold is essentially the aircraft’s version of cruise control,” said Paul Dees, NASA’s X-59 deputy propulsion lead at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. “The pilot engages speed hold at their current speed, then can adjust it incrementally up or down as needed.”
The X-59 team had previously conducted a similar test on the engine – but only as an isolated system. The March test verified the speed hold functions properly after integration into the aircraft’s avionics.
“We needed to verify that speed hold worked not just within the engine itself but as part of the entire aircraft system.” Dees explained. “This test confirmed that all components – software, mechanical linkages, and control laws – work together as intended.”
The successful test confirmed the aircraft’s ability to precisely control speed, which will be invaluable during flight. This capability will increase pilot safety, allowing them to focus on other critical aspects of flight operation.
“The pilot is going to be very busy during first flight, ensuring the aircraft is stable and controllable,” Dees said. “Having speed hold offload some of that workload makes first flight that much safer.”
The team originally planned to check the speed hold as part of an upcoming series of ground test trials where they will feed the aircraft with a robust set of data to verify functionality under both normal and failure conditions, known as aluminum bird tests. But the team recognized a chance to test sooner.
“It was a target of opportunity,” Dees said. “We realized we were ready to test engine speed hold separately while other systems continued with finalizing their software. If we can learn something earlier, that’s always better.”
With every successful test, the integrated NASA and Lockheed Martin team brings the X-59 closer to first flight, and closer to making aviation history through quiet supersonic technology.
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Last Updated Mar 26, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h.cholula@nasa.gov Related Terms
Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Armstrong Flight Research Center Commercial Supersonic Technology Langley Research Center Low Boom Flight Demonstrator Quesst (X-59) Supersonic Flight Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
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By NASA
On March 24, 1975, the last in a long line of super successful Saturn rockets rolled out from the vehicle assembly building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Saturn IB rocket for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the 19th in the Saturn class stacked in the assembly building, beginning in 1966 with the Saturn V 500F facilities checkout vehicle. Thirteen flight Saturn V rockets followed, 12 to launch Apollo spacecraft and one to place the Skylab space station into orbit. In addition, workers stacked four flight Saturn IB rockets, three to launch crews to Skylab and one for Apollo-Soyuz, plus another for the Skylab rescue vehicle that was not needed and never launched. Previously, workers stacked Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets on the pads at Launch Complexes 34 and 37. With the successful liftoff in July 1975, the Saturn family of rockets racked up a 100 percent success rate of 32 launches.
Workers lower the Apollo command and service modules onto the spacecraft adaptor.NASA Technicians in the assembly building replace the fins on the Saturn IB rocket’s first stage. NASA Workers in the assembly building prepare to lower the spacecraft onto its Saturn IB rocket.NASA Inspections of the Saturn IB rocket’s first stage fins revealed hairline cracks in several hold-down fittings and managers ordered the replacement of all eight fins. While the cracks would not affect the flight of the rocket they bore the weight of the rocket on the mobile launcher. Workers finished the fin replacement on March 16. Engineers in Kennedy’s spacecraft operations building prepared the Apollo spacecraft for its historic space mission. By early March, they had completed checkout and assembly of the spacecraft and transported it to the assembly building on March 17 to mount it atop the Saturn IB’s second stage. Five days later, they topped off the rocket with the launch escape system.
The final Saturn IB begins its rollout from the vehicle assembly building. NASA The Saturn IB passes by the Launch Control Center. NASA Apollo astronauts Thomas Stafford, left, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton pose in front of their Saturn IB during the rollout.NASA On March 23, workers edged the mobile transporter carrying the Saturn IB just outside the assembly building’s High Bay 1, where engineers installed an 80-foot tall lightning mast atop the launch tower. The next morning, the stack continued its rollout to Launch Pad 39B with the prime crew of Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton and support crew members Robert Crippen and Richard Truly on hand to observe. About 7,500 people, including guests, dependents of Kennedy employees and NASA Tours patrons, watched as the stack moved slowly out of the assembly building on its five-mile journey to the launch pad.
Mission Control in Houston during the joint simulation with Flight Director Donald Puddy in striped shirt and a view of Mission Control in Moscow on the large screen at left. NASA A group of Soviet flight controllers in a support room in Mission Control in Houston during the joint simulation. NASA On March 20, flight controllers and crews began a series of joint simulations for the joint mission scheduled for July 1975. For the six days of simulations, cosmonauts Aleksei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov and astronauts Stafford, Brand, and Slayton participated in the activity in spacecraft simulators in their respective countries, with both control centers in Houston and outside Moscow fully staffed as if for the actual mission. The exercises simulated various phases of the mission, including the respective launches, rendezvous and docking, crew transfers and joint operations, and undocking.
Astronauts Thomas Stafford, left, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton in a boilerplate Apollo command module preparing for the water egress training. NASA Stafford, left, Slayton, and Brand in the life raft during water egress training. NASA Astronauts Stafford, Brand and Slayton participated in a water egress training activity on March 8, completing the exercise in a water tank in Building 260 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The astronauts practiced egressing from their spacecraft onto a lift raft and being lifted up with the use of a Billy Pugh rescue net. They practiced wearing their flight coveralls as well as their spacesuits.
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The Rocket City Regional – Alabama’s annual For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Regional Competition – is scheduled for Friday, March 14, through Saturday, March 15, at the Von Braun Center South Hall in Huntsville, Alabama.
FIRST Robotics is a global robotics competition for students in grades 9-12. Teams are challenged to raise funds, design a team brand, hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-sized robots to play a difficult field game against competitors.
Students from RAD Robotics Team 7111 – a FIRST Robotics team from Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – make adjustments to their robot during the 2024 Rocket City Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Huntsville. District and regional competitions – such as the Rocket City Regional – are held across the country during March and April, providing teams a chance to qualify for the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship events held in mid-April in Houston.
Hundreds of high school students from 44 teams from 10 states and 2 countries will compete in a new robotics game called, “REEFSCAPE.”
This event is free and open to the public. Opening ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT followed by qualification matches on March 14 and March 15. The Friday awards ceremony will begin at 5:45 p.m., while the Saturday awards ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m.
NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams and support for FIRST Robotics competitions to address the critical national shortage of students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. The Rocket City Regional Competition is supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.
News media interested in covering this event should respond no later than 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 by contacting Taylor Goodwin at 256-544-0034 or taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov.
Learn more about the Rocket City Regional event:
https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=72593
Find more information about Marshall’s support for education programs:
https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/marshall-stem-engagement
Taylor Goodwin
256-544-0034
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 12, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA’s Jason Hopper is shown at the E Test Complex at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.NASA/Danny Nowlin Jason Hopper’s journey to NASA started with assessing the risk of stepping into the unknown.
One day, while taking a break from his hobby of rock climbing at Mississippi State University, a fellow student noticed Hopper reading a rocket propulsion textbook with a photo of a space shuttle launch on the cover.
Rocket propulsion – the technology that propels vehicles into space, usually through liquid rocket engines or solid rocket motors – is a highly complex field. Engineers rigorously test the propulsion systems and components to understand their capabilities and limitations, ensuring rockets can safely reach space.
“A guy just walked up and randomly said, ‘Hey, my dad works testing rocket engines,’” Hopper recalled.
Hopper, an aerospace engineering student at the time, did not know about NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He soon would learn more.
The fellow student provided him with contact information, and the rest is history.
A Meridian, Mississippi, native, Hopper graduated from Mississippi State in 2007 and made his way to America’s largest rocket propulsion test site in south Mississippi.
On the other side of Hopper’s risk of stepping into the unknown came the reward of realizing how far he had come from reading about rocket propulsion work to contributing to it.
The career highlight happened when Hopper watched a space shuttle launch, powered in part by an engine he had fired up as a test conductor working at NASA Stennis.
“You cannot really put it into words because it permeates all through you, knowing that you are a part of something that big while at the same time, you are just a little piece of it,” he said.
Hopper transitioned from his contractor position to a civil servant role as test conductor when he joined NASA in 2011.
His work as a test conductor throughout all the NASA Stennis test areas and as test director at the E Test Complex has benefited NASA and industry, while giving him a good perspective on the value of the center’s work.
Among the projects he has played a large role in include the J-2X engine test program, build up for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) core stage hot fire ahead of the successful Artemis I launch and multiple projects throughout the E Test Complex.
“We offer operational excellence that I would argue you cannot get anywhere else,” Hopper said. “NASA Stennis is a smaller, family-oriented center renowned for excellence in rocket propulsion testing. It is a small place, where we do amazing things.”
Propulsion test customers at NASA Stennis include government and commercial projects. The NASA center is engaged in two projects to support the agency’s SLS rocket – testing of RS-25 engines to help power SLS launches and of NASA’s new exploration upper stage to fly on future missions to the Moon.
Current commercial companies conducting work at NASA Stennis include Blue Origin; Boeing; Evolution Space; Launcher, a Vast company; Relativity Space; and Rolls-Royce. Three companies – Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, and Evolution Space – are establishing production and/or test operations onsite.
After leaving south Mississippi for a four-year stint at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Hopper returned to NASA Stennis as risk manager of NASA’s Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office.
In his day-to-day work, Hopper assesses risk around two questions – what is the risk and what do I really need to be focusing on?
Making decisions through this filter helps the Poplarville, Mississippi, resident make the best use of the agency’s rocket propulsion test assets, activities, and resources.
“With a risk perspective, if things are high risk, we need to address these items and focus our attention on them,” Hopper said. “If we lose a national test capability, that impacts more than just NASA; it impacts the nation because NASA is a significant enabler of commercial spaceflight.”
Hopper helps oversee the maintenance and sustainment of propulsion test capabilities across four sites – NASA Stennis; NASA Marshall; NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio; and NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
By establishing and maintaining world-class test facilities, the agency’s Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office ensures that NASA and its partners can conduct safe, efficient, and cost-effective rocket propulsion tests to support the advancement of space exploration and technology development.
Hopper looks to the future with optimism.
“We have an opportunity to redefine kind of what we as NASA and NASA Stennis do and how we do it,” he said. “Before, we were trying to help commercial companies figure things out. We were trying to get them up and going, but now we are in more of a support role in a lot of ways and so if you look at it, and approach it the right way, it can be very exciting.”
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