On 10 October 2009, the Cadets took a trip to NASA's Stennis Rocket Test facility. C/2nd Lts. Agnes Nworkorie & Placid Nworkorie and C/Airmen Phillips & Pike and C/Basic Nworkorie & Kelly hit the road early Saturday with Major Phil Smith and 2nd Lt. Lydia Pike. Undaunted by the inclement weather, the element departed at 07:00 and headed east for the 1.5 hour drive across the state line into Mississippi. From the welcome center, they boarded a bus bound for Stennis.
NASA Stennis Space Center was established in 1963 in order to test the stages of the rockets that took Man to the moon. After an informational bus tour around the facility where they saw several test pads, including one that will be complete in 2011 and will be used to test the J2 engines that will power the Ares 5 rocket in the “Constellation” project that will take man back to the moon.
Unlike Apollo, the Aeries V will house the payload while Aeries II will be the crew module. Each of the modules will be launched separately and rendezvous in orbit then continue to the moon.
After the tour, the cadets experienced the space center museum, the StenniSphere. Full of interesting exhibits such as Naval Meteorology & Oceanography Command exhibit, International space station and 3-d visualization lab, by far, the most intriguing was the Space Shuttle Cockpit which contained a simulator that provided an idea of what it might be like to land the shuttle. All the cadets were successful but I understand Major Smith got the highest score of the day.
NASA Stennis Space Center was established in 1963 in order to test the stages of the rockets that took Man to the moon. After an informational bus tour around the facility where they saw several test pads, including one that will be complete in 2011 and will be used to test the J2 engines that will power the Ares 5 rocket in the “Constellation” project that will take man back to the moon.
Unlike Apollo, the Aeries V will house the payload while Aeries II will be the crew module. Each of the modules will be launched separately and rendezvous in orbit then continue to the moon.
After the tour, the cadets experienced the space center museum, the StenniSphere. Full of interesting exhibits such as Naval Meteorology & Oceanography Command exhibit, International space station and 3-d visualization lab, by far, the most intriguing was the Space Shuttle Cockpit which contained a simulator that provided an idea of what it might be like to land the shuttle. All the cadets were successful but I understand Major Smith got the highest score of the day.
All of the cadets reported having a good time and extend their appreciation to Major Smith for organizing and seeing this trip through.
