SpaceX ribbon-cutting slated

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- There will be a ribbon-cutting Monday at NASA's Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi to mark the beginning of SpaceX's new engine component test operations. SpaceX, the first commercial company to successfully send supplies to the International Space Station, said in October 2013 that it would use SSC to test its new Raptor methane rocket engines. Another company that can send cargo to the ISS, Orbital Sciences, uses Aerojet AJ26 engines to power its Antares rocket. Those engines also are tested at SSC. Scheduled to attend the 3 p.m. CDT ribbon-cutting is SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, SSC Director Rick Gilbrech, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Sen. Thad Cochran and Rep. Steven Palazzo. (Source: GCAC, 04/16/14) Previous