Stennis Space Center Director Gene Goldman (right) visited Washington, D.C,. last month, where he called on Louisiana and Mississippi leaders to update them on work at the rocket engine testing facility. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., was among those visited by Goldman on March 24.

NASA officials and elected leaders were on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony of the NASA Shared Services Center Feb. 24, 2006, on the grounds of Stennis Space Center. The NSSC provides agency centralized administrative processing, human resources, procurement and financial services. From left, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Mike Olivier, Stennis Space Center Director Rick Gilbrech, Computer Sciences Corp. President Michael Laphen, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale, Rep. Gene Taylor, Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and Shared Services Center Executive Director Arbuthnot use golden shovels to break ground at the site.

NASA officials and government leaders participated in a groundbreaking event for a new rocket engine test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Pictured (left to right) are Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Doug Cooke, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne President Jim Maser, Stennis Space Center Director Richard Gilbrech, NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Scott Horowitz, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Sen. Thad Cochran, Sen. Trent Lott, Rep. Gene Taylor, SSC's Deputy Director Gene Goldman, and SSC's A-3 Project Manager Lonnie Dutreix. Stennis' A-3 Test Stand will provide altitude testing for NASA's developing J-2X engine. That engine will power the upper stages of NASA's Ares I and Ares V rockets. A-3 is the first large test stand to be built at SSC since the site's inception in the 1960s.