Stennis Space Center

John C. Stennis Space Center

The B-1/B-2 Test Stand holding space shuttle components (1987)
Agency overview
Formed	1961
Preceding agencies	Mississippi Test Operations National Space Technology Laboratories
Jurisdiction	U.S. federal government
Headquarters	Hancock County, Mississippi
Agency executive	Dr. Richard J. Gilbrech, director
Parent agency	NASA
Website	Stennis Space Center home page

Rocket Propulsion Test Complex
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Static Test Firing S-1C Saturn V Mississippi Test Facility MTF
Show map of Mississippi Show map of the US
Location	Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Built	1965
Architect	NASA
NRHP Reference #	85002805
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 3, 1985
Designated NHL	October 3, 1985

The John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) is a NASA rocket testing facility. It is located in Hancock County, Mississippi, on the banks of the Pearl River at the Mississippi–Louisiana border. As of 2012^[update], it is NASA's largest rocket engine test facility. There are over 30 local, state, national, international, private, and public companies and agencies using SSC for their rocket testing facilities.

The initial requirements for NASA's proposed rocket testing facility required the site to be located between the rockets' manufacturing facility at Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans, Louisiana and the launch facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also, the site required barge access as the rocket motors to be tested for Apollo were too large for overland transport.

NASA announced formation of the Mississippi Test Facility (now known as Stennis Space Center) on Oct. 25, 1961, for testing engines for the Apollo Program. A high-terrace area bordering the East Pearl River in Hancock County, Miss., was selected for its location. NASA entrusted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the difficult task to procure each land parcel either by directly purchasing the land or through acquisition of a perpetual easement.

The selected area was thinly populated and met all other requirements; however before construction began, five small communities (Gainesville, Logtown, Napoleon, Santa Rosa, and Westonia), plus the northern portion of a sixth (Pearlington), and a combined population of 700 families had to be completely relocated off the facility. The effort acquired more than 3,200 parcels of privately owned land – 786 residences, 16 churches, 19 stores, three schools and a wide assortment of commercial buildings, including nightclubs and community centers. Remnants of the communities, including city streets and a one-room school house, still exist within the facility.