Stennis Space Center - Space Flight Memorials and Exhibits on Waymarking.com

Stennis Space Center has a visitor center called StenniSphere. Tours to StenniSphere depart every 15 minutes from the Mississippi Welcome Center on I-10 at Exit 2, just 48 miles west of Biloxi and 45 miles east of New Orleans. The above listed coordinates are for the main entrance to the Launch Pad. This is where visitors over 18 and older show their valid photo ID (International visitors must provide a valid passport) and receive a visitor's badge. Just outside the door to the Launch Pad, is where visitors catch the bus to the StenniSphere. The tour of the Stennis campus takes about 30 minutes, after which visitors can explore the StenniSphere and immediate surrounding grounds. When ready, visitors take the bus back to the Launch Pad. There is no fee for this tour.


The John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) in South Mississippi is one of ten NASA field centers in the United States. It is NASA's primary center for testing and proving flight worthy rocket propulsion systems for the Space Shuttle and future generations of space vehicles. Because of its important role in engine testing for four decades, Stennis Space Center is NASA's program manager for rocket propulsion testing with total responsibility for conducting and/or managing all NASA propulsion test programs.

Stennis Space Center tests all Space Shuttle Main Engines. These high-performance, liquid-fueled engines provide most of the total impulse needed during the shuttle's eight and one-half-minute-flight to orbit. All shuttle main engines must pass a series of test firings (below right) at Stennis Space Center prior to being installed in the back of the orbiter (below left).

The Earth Science Applications Directorate matches NASA's scientific and technical knowledge with issues of national concern and the needs of our partners. Partners include local, state, and tribal governments, commercial industry, with educational institutions and other non-profit institutions. Through the Directorate's co-funded partnerships, public and private sector decision makers learn how to apply new technologies to critical environmental, resource management, community growth, and disaster management issues. The Directorate also provides the remote sensing community with a comprehensive array of manmade and natural ground targets, measurement systems, and benchmark processes to help test airborne and space remote sensing systems against performance specifications and customer needs.

Stennis Space Center began "re-inventing government" decades ago before the concept became popular. Over the years, SSC has evolved into a multiagency, multidisciplinary center for federal, state, academic and private organizations engaged in space, oceans, environmental programs and the national defense. In addition to NASA, there are more than 30 other agencies and numerous technology-based organizations located at Stennis. Of approximately 4,500 employees, about l,600 work in the fields of science and engineering.

These agencies work side by side and share common costs related to infrastructure, facility and technical services, thus making it cheaper for each to accomplish its independent mission at SSC.


(All text for this waymark was copied from the NASA website.)

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fee (if no fee, enter 'none'): none How Long a Hike: 111 feet Amount of time an average person would spend here: Up to 2 hours Accessible?: yes Location is wheelchair accessible?: Not listed

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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   03/11/2015 merlot visited it 03/24/2014 bonsaai visited it 07/04/2012 powertool visited it 01/04/2010 iJEEP visited it

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