Stennis Day in the Bay November 11

Big Buzz Blog - October 2023

A military flyover, underwater drone exhibits, an appearance by a legendary Apollo 13 astronaut and a space-themed burger cook-off will be among the highlights of next month’s Stennis Day in the Bay.

- by Lisa Monti

Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022

This Big Buzz ​is supported by our Partners:

 
Stennis Day in the Bay will spotlight the contributions of NASA’s Stennis Space Center to its neighboring communities. The event organizers’ intent is to introduce young people to exciting aerospace and oceanography careers close to home and expose adults to all the benefits that the NASA’s Stennis complex offers Hancock County and Mississippi.
 
The inaugural Stennis Day in the Bay will be held on Veterans Day, November 11, from noon to 5 pm on the grounds of the historic Hancock County courthouse on Main Street. The Events Committee of Bay St. Louis, together with Partners for Stennis & Michoud, have put together a day filled with interactive exhibits and activities for all, including opportunities for one-on-one conversations with Stennis employees, all while honoring our Veterans.
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Event chair Janice A. Guido, a board member of Partners for Stennis and the Hancock Chamber as well as a local retailer, says when you have a prestigious NASA center as a neighbor, “you want to celebrate it and make sure everyone understands its importance to the community. Partners for Stennis & Michoud’s mission is to make sure we are doing everything we can to support the Stennis and Michoud complexes and help our citizens understand what takes place there.”
 
Access to the space center is limited for security reasons, so the Stennis Day organizers decided to bring the center’s representatives to downtown Bay St. Louis “to celebrate everything at Stennis and to give the public an opportunity to meet face-to-face with Stennis workers. The Event Committee and Partners organization hope to broaden the event in the future to include Space and Ocean agencies and corporations and their supporters,” Guido said.
 

NASA conducts a hot fire test March 18, 2021, of the core stage for the agency’s Space Launch System rocket on the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. | NASA photo

 
Stennis Space Center, established in the 1960s, is the lead center for all NASA propulsion test capabilities and assets. Employees are currently testing RS-25 engines with 2 million pounds of thrust that will send the Space Launch System rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars. The center employs around 5,000 people and has an economic impact of approximately $1 billion a year within a 50-mile radius of its Hancock County location. Many of the agencies and private companies based at the center, such as Aerojet Rocketdyne/L3 Harris, Lockheed Martin, Relativity Space and Rocket Lab, will take part in Stennis Day. In fact, each of these four companies are major sponsors of the Stennis Day event, Guido said. Other local major sponsors include Chiniche Engineering, EIS, South Group Insurance, Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Goldbelt Falcon/Integrated Logistics, Mississippi Power, Play on the Bay, Visit Mississippi, and The Shoofly Magazine.
  

The 2022 launch as seen from NASA's Banana Creek Viewing Area. | Lisa Monti photo

 
Other participants include Infinity Space Center, the U.S. Navy's CNMOC Center, the Hancock Library System, the Hancock County Historical Society, the Hancock County Port & Harbor Commission, Stennis International Airport, Pearl River Community College, Northshore Community College, University of Southern Mississippi Coastal Operations, local military recruiters, and members of the VFW and American Legion. The Hancock County Historical Society will feature historic films, photographic collections and speakers such as local author Pat Murphy to talk about the history of Stennis Space Center.
 
The day will kick off at noon with a flyover by U.S. Air Force aircraft, a military salute, and patriotic songs in honor of Veterans Day. At 3 pm, Apollo 13 astronaut and Biloxi native Fred Haise is expected to be on hand for the unveiling of a bronze star honoring his achievements. At 4 pm, Rosemary Roosa, daughter of Apollo astronaut Stuart Roosa, will plant a moon tree sapling in a special area in front of the courthouse.
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Both Gex and Cue Streets alongside the historic courthouse will be closed for the day. The front of the courthouse on Main and down Cue Street as well as the Methodist Church courtyard will be filled with NASA Stennis Center's agencies and companies as well as supporters of Stennis. Gex Street will be filled with Hancock leadership’s Bud & Burger contestant booths who will be competing for best Space Burger. “The Event Committee wants to thank Mitchell Distributing for their support of the event in supplying beer, soda and water,” Guido said. “The Event Committee and Partners for Stennis & Michoud encourage all in our county to come out and support this very important celebration on November 11.”
 
For details, go to www.partnersforstennis.org, and to register as an exhibitor, sponsor, or competitor in the Bud & Burger Competition, visit www.hancockchamber.org.

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