Baton Rouge has NASA day

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Patrick Scheuermann, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., met with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and key members of the state Legislature Wednesday as part of "NASA Day in Baton Rouge." NASA's history in the state is tied to Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where workers have long assembled large space structures for NASA programs, from Apollo-era rockets to the 136 external fuel tanks that lifted the space shuttle to orbit during its 30-year history. Now MAF workers are making hardware for the Space Launch System heavy-lift launch vehicle and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. The Michoud Assembly Facility alone employs an estimated 2,700 people. (Source: NASA, 05/08/13)