These figures are noteworthy - NASA Stennis Space Center near Bay Louis, Mississippi Bay, conducted 34 years of testing the main shuttle engine, 3,244 individual tests, and over 820,000 seconds (a total of more than 9 days) accumulated Heat.
The story behind the numbers is unforgettable.
"It's hard to describe the full impact of the Space Shuttle main engine testing activity on NASA Stennis," said John Bailey, director of the Center. "In a story of a great team achievement and achievement, these are hundreds of stories that affect all areas of the Center's life."
NASA Stennis tested the main engine of the space shuttle from May 19, 1975 to July 29, 2009. The test brings history to a long history, achieving 135 shuttle missions and well-known space milestones, such as the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction of the International Space Station.
Also tested:
NASA Stennis is not a direct choice for testing the main engine of the space shuttle. Two other locations are seeking missions – NASA is located at the Marshall Flight Center in Alabama and Edwards Air Force Base in California. However, after the speech and evaluation, NASA announced that on March 1, 1971, the test event will be held in southern Mississippi.
“(NASA Stennis) now ensures that the future of advancing testing has been advanced for decades.” Terminal to spaceThis is the center’s first decade history.
The test did not start immediately. First, NASA Stennis must complete an ambitious project to convert the first decade of Rockets stage testing into a facility that supports the single-engine Heat.
The propellant tank was installed and calibrated. A system is shaped to measure and verify engine thrust. Reciprocity capabilities were developed on the Fred Haise test bench to allow operators to move engines as they had to rotate in flight to control the rocket trajectory. Similarly, engineers designed diffuser capabilities for the A-2 test rack to enable operators to test at simulated heights up to 60,000 feet.
The NASA Stennis team must also learn how to handle cryogenic propellants in new ways. For the Apollo test, propellant was loaded into a stage can to support the Heat. For space shuttles, propellant must be provided by the engine mount. The new stand-up tank is not big enough to support the full vein (500 seconds) Heat, so the team must transfer propellant from the barge, running tank to the engine for real-time transfer.
The process requires careful engineering and calibration. “There are a lot of real-time operations to learn,” said Maury Vander, head of the testing business at NASA Stennis. “The team had to develop a way to accurately measure the propellant levels in the tank and control the flow from the barge to the tank and from the tank to the engine. It was a very precise process.”
The biggest challenge is the operation of the engine itself. Not only is it the most complex development ever, but the team will test the full engine from the very beginning. Typically, individual components are developed and tested before assembling a complete engine. Shuttle tests began with a full-size engine, although several initial tests did have trimmed thrust chamber components.
The preliminary test of May 19, 1975 provides an evaluation of the team and the engine. The so-called "bur" test did not fully ignite, but it laid the foundation for the stage to move forward.
"The first test was a terrible milestone," Vander said. "The team had to overcome all kinds of challenges, and I can only imagine the feeling of going from most theory engines to almost no see it."
The NASA Stennis team quickly conducted five tests. June 23/24, there is a complete engine thrust chamber assembly, and the team is fully ignited. By the end of the year, the team had conducted 27 tests. Over the next five years, they recorded more than 100 Heats a year, which was a challenging pace. By the end of 1980, NASA Stennis had accumulated more than 28 hours of the Heat.
As the team develops a clear engine start, power upwards, power off and off sequences, the learning curve remains steep. They also identified exceptions and experienced various engine failures.
“Every test is a semi-controlled explosion,” Vander said. “Every test is like a work of art because everything happens behind the scenes can achieve that, and no two tests are exactly the same. We will continue to build a lot of knowledge and lessons learned today.”
The team took a huge step from 1978 to 1981 to test the main propulsion test article, which involved the installation of three engines (configured during actual launch as during actual launch) and with the shuttle external tank and a simulated orbit on the B-2 side of the THAD Cochran test bench.
The team conducted 18 articles to test it and finally proved that the shuttle configuration will be done as needed. On April 12, 1981, the space shuttle Colombia was launched on the first STS-1 mission in the new era. Unlike previous vehicles, the vehicle has no unspiraled test flights. The first launch of the shuttle carries astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen.
“The effort you contribute makes it possible for us to sit down and ride a bike,” Kripp told NASA Stennis staff when visiting the site after testing. “We can’t even make it look hard.”
Over the next 28 years, the tests were steadily carried out. Engine abnormalities, upgrades, system changes - all tested at NASA Stennis. The engine limitations were tested and proven. The website team gained tremendous testing experience and expertise. NASA Stennis personnel become experts in dealing with low temperatures.
After losing the Challenger and the Shuttles loss in Colombia, the NASA Stennis team completed rigorous testing activities to ensure the safety of future missions. It can be said that the main engine of the space shuttle has become the world's highest tested and most understandable large rocket engine - the NASA Stennis team is the team with the most cutting-edge knowledge.
NASA recognizes the efforts of the NASA Stennis team to establish the site as a center of excellence for large-scale advancement of testing efforts. Meanwhile, NASA Stennis has taken to consolidate its future as a federal city with more than 50 residents, organizations and companies.
Space Shuttle testing opens the door to a variety of commercial aerospace testing projects now supported by the website. It also builds and consolidates the unique capabilities of the test team and gives ownership of Mississippi owners and their defining missions in the shuttle program.
Without the shuttle's main engine testing activity, no one can say what will happen to NASA Stennis. However, NASA Stennis is now entirely dependent on the record and work of historical creation activities.
"Everyone knows that NASA Stennis is the website that tested the Apollo rocket test that brought humans to the moon, but the main engine test of the Space Shuttle did build this website," said Joe Schuyler, director of engineering and testing operations at NASA Stennis. "The reason we became us is because of this test activity - everything we do is built on that."