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LAGNIAPPE
October 17, 1991
LAGNIAPPE Commentary
The Stuff of Dreams...
We're coming up on the 30th anniversary of the Stennis Space Center, and I'm sure that many people out there, like me and Gator, have a lot of good memories to associate with all those years. There are a few of us still around who go all the way back to the beginning and before. I will always be proud of the fact that I wrote the press release Oct. 25, 1961, which announced to the world that we were going to build this place down here in the piney woods and swamps of Mississippi.
There are a lot of folks, like me, who remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on this anniversary date, just like those who remember the bright, sunny November day President Kennedy was shot and the freezing cold morning the Challenger exploded.
My friend Roy Baxter down in Pearlington said he was flying his seaplane back from Lakefront Airport in New Orleans to his home on the Pearl River at Logtown when he heard the news on the plane's radio. There are many, many stories connected to that day back in ’61. Why you could write a book on what people were doing on the day the papers read, "Uncle Sam to Build Moon Base in Mississippi.” I do know this, that decision made up in the hills of Huntsville in North Alabama surely changed the lives of thousands of people. I often wonder what I would be doing today if this place had never happened.
I’ve had so many friends out here who have now gone on, that the memories are sometimes a little sad. I’m finding out that carrying the torch for the last of a line can be a heavy burden. This thing seems to have happened too fast.
This morning I got up early and drove out here before daylight just to get a feel of the old place like it used to be. I wanted to capture my dream for just a little while before the clutter of today's noise arrived. The October sky was crisp and black with Jupiter lighting up its eastern domain, outshining all the millions of minor stars. I drove out to the test complex and saw the blinking lights on the stands, all lit up like they were when we were testing the Saturn rockets for their main missions.
Then I came on back here to 1100 looking for a shot of coffee. As I walked in the big front doors I remembered a talk I had with Charlie Reed, an old pal from Long Beach, when we were finishing up this building in '65. Charlie was polishing a door which was to be hung on what is now the Gainesville conference room. ‘ ‘Why are you working so hard on that door, Charlie?” I asked. ‘‘Because, Mack,” he said, ‘‘someday some of the greatest people in the world are going to walk through it.” Charlie was right. Sure enough, they did.
When I walked down the long hall to my new office, I thought of a few of them I have had the honor to work with—Wernher von Braun, Jack Balch, Henry Auter, Janie Jones, , Bobby Hegwood, John Ivey, B.U. Jones, Bart Slattery and Michael Smith. The list grows every year, but they keep telling me that’s life.
Sometimes I get a little aggravated at the young people out here, and at my own son, Kyle, who works for NASA over at JSC. They don’t seem to appreciate the good ole days like they should. But then I have to slow down a little and think. We've got our dream, and we’re damn proud of it! The time has come for us to pass the torch and let them build their own dreams. Thirty years. Can you believe it?
M.R.H.
NASA NEWSCLIPS
■ NASA HEADQUARTERS—NASA Administrator Richard Truly has announced several key appointments. Arnold Aldrich, currently associate administrator for the office of aeronautics, exploration and technology, has been selected as associate administrator for the recently announced office of space systems development. Richard Petersen, director of Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will come to headquarters to become the associate administrator for the office of aeronautics and space technology, formerly the office of aeronautics, exploration and technology. Dr. William Lenoir, currently the associate administrator for the office of space flight, will continue to head that office with its new focus on space flight operations. Charles Force will remain in his current assignment as the associate administrator for the office of space communications, formerly named the office of space operations. With these changes, Truly said, “NASA wili be better aligned to execute the development and operation of Space Station Freedom, as well as other new capability development projects, and to focus more directly on efficient space operations. These management changes will also ensure a strong future in NASA’s aeronautics research and space technology efforts." Truly also announced the creation of the office of management systems and facilities, which will consolidate the efforts of the offices of management and headquarters operations. Benita Cooper has been selected to be associate administrator for this new organization. Dr. C. Howard Robins, currently associate administrator for the office of management, will be on a special assignment to assist the deputy administrator in ensuring the smooth organizational transition activities at NASA headquarters, and then will return to a senior technical position. In announcing this consolidation, Truly said, "This will greatly facilitate our efforts to enhance total quality management in NASA’s insitutional management.”
Lagniappe is published monthly by the John C. Stennis Space Center. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529. Roy Estess, director; Myron Webb, public affairs officer. Comments and suggestions are welcomed and should be forwarded to the Lagniappe Office, Building 1100, Room 135, or call Ext. 3583.
Susan M. Huseonica........................Acting Editor