SSC future looks bright

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA's Stennis Space Center hosted a breakfast Thursday for community leaders from Mississippi and Louisiana to talk about the future, and it looks bright. Patrick Scheuermann, director SSC, said the center, where rocket engines are tested, has a $1 billion impact on the region. Work is booked on every test stand, he said. But the NASA center also hosts activities from other federal and state agencies and commercial companies. Martin Flinders, facilities engineering manager for the Rolls-Royce North America Outdoor Test Facility, said it was the 125,000-acre acoustical buffer zone surrounding Stennis Space Center that prompted the company to pick South Mississippi to test airliner engines. The first stand opened in 2007 and work will begin soon on a second stand. (Sources: Sun Herald, Times-Picayune, 03/01/12)