Explore the March 2024 edition featuring:
- NASA Stennis Capitol Day
- NASA Enters Second Half of Key RS-25 Engine Certification Series
- NASA Stennis Celebrates Milestone for Historic Autonomous Systems Mission
Gator Speaks
Closing out February and coming into March has Gator fired up, and rightfully so!
Recent weeks and upcoming events remind us all how we are in a golden era of space exploration as NASA inspires the world through discovery.
For the first time in more than half a century, America returned to the Moon on Feb. 22 during the eighth day of a quarter-million-mile voyage under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative with an Intuitive Machines lander named Odysseus. This Odysseus landing on the lunar South Pole makes way for future commercial deliveries to the Moon, along with future Artemis missions that will see humans return to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Speaking of Artemis, NASA Stennis is expected to carry out multiple RS-25 engine hot fires this month in the key test series for future Artemis flights of NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.
Another example of NASA and NASA Stennis working with a commercial partner comes in the form of the first ever in-space autonomous systems mission involving NASA Stennis as a payload rider. The payload, part of project ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications), is expected to launch soon on the Sidus Space LizzieSat TM small satellite.
In March, NASA will celebrate Women's History Month. I invite you to read how one NASA Stennis employee's interest in computer science brought her to the south Mississippi site, where she has become the first at NASA Stennis to reach a particular certification that showcases her dedication and level of skill to the job.
Can you feel it? The spring weather is here, and that shine outside is not only the Sun, but also this golden era of space exploration we all get to take part in and enjoy.
NASA Stennis Top News
NASA Leaders Participate in Annual Stennis Day at the Capitol
Leaders from NASA's Stennis Space Center and NASA Shared Services Center visit Jackson, Mississippi, in late February to share site updates with state leaders during the annual Stennis Day at the Capitol.