A Bus Tour of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Pearlington, Mississippi

Eric waits for the bus that
will take us to NASA's
Stennis Space Center.

We presented our drivers licenses

to Infinity Staff to get these

Visitor Passes.

Eight people find seats on the bus.  Our driver, Vicki, starts describing this 150,000 NASA Rocket Propulsion Testing installation.   13,500 acres are used by the Space Center.  The rest of the acreage is a sound buffer zone.

Small communities were
relocated to make way for
the John C. Stennis
Space Center.

Vicki stops at the security check point.  We are allowed to proceed.

Everyone who enters the Space Center has been identified.

A navigational lock & bridge
 were built to transport the
 HUGE Saturn Rockets that
 were tested here.

The waterway doesn't bring in Saturn Rockets since the Shuttle Program ended.  NASA is exploring Mars with robotic missions and planning to redirect an asteroid.  Smaller rockets are needed for this exploration, and they are tested here.   Planning for manned missions to Mars will bring HUGE rockets back to the to the lock.

This NASA building now
houses NOAA.

Some of the NOAA buoys

that relay information for

scientists & meteorologists.

Stennis Space Center houses the
Naval Research Laboratory.

The Mississippi Technology

Transfer Center

This is where research is done to adapt space technology to everyday products...  Cell phones, invisible braces, artificial limbs....

NASA Administration

Building

The Space Center's

water tower

This gigantic tower is one

of the rocket propulsion

test sites.

The tower is anchored by its 140 foot below ground structure.

A side shot

The vehicles & the workmen

on the left show the enormity

of the tower.

Eric in front of another propulsion

test area with three towers.

Commercial engines are
tested here too.

Vicki tells us that the rocket tests create a lot of noise that the public is protected from with the buffer zone.  The motto for Stennis Space Center is...  We Shake, Rattle and Roar!  

The Center for Learning is
part of The University of
Southern Mississippi.

The Emergency Operations

Center includes medical,
fire & security services.

On our drive out of the Space Center Vicki tells us about the wildlife thrive in this secure, hunter free zone.  Bald Eagles, Panthers, Black Bears and many other animals are seen here.

I am reminded of our visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the wildlife conservation that NASA promotes as it reaches out deeper into space.