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here's Ricky with a song that's quickly

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taken over the number one spot he must

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or a joint session of Congress today

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President Kennedy gave this country a

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remarkable challenge I believe that this

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nation should commit itself to achieving

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the goal before this decade is out of

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landing a man on the moon and returning

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him safely to the earth

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did you hear that that message by

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President John F Kennedy May 25th 1961

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brings back many memories but it really

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hit home for the people of South

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Mississippi when the government

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announced five months later to the day

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that it would build a pest facility

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along the banks of the East Pearl River

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to test those rockets that will go into

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the newspapers throughout the area

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carried the announcement of the location

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of the test site generally quite subtle

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community was a lovely place I was

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somewhat familiar with the fact that

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honey island swamp between the two pearl

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rivers was was sort of a no man's land

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also devil swamp over to the east of the

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site here was most justjust in low

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timberlands the original policy for

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acquisition of the test site was the the

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operational area where all of the

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facilities are constructed contained

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thirteen thousand five hundred acres

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that was bought outright including the

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mineral interest the buffer zone which

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was approximately another 120 plus

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thousand acres the original policy was

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to acquire only a perpetual restrictive

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easement one of the reasons this area

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was selected of course it was a number

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of reasons a physical reason for one

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thing this marvelous River we had here

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and then low population where could you

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find that much acreage and move that

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smaller amount of people the project was

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under overall management of the Marshall

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Space Flight Center in Huntsville

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Alabama and the people up there we're

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really excited about the selection of

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this Pearl River area for the test site

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after all it's just a short distance

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down the Pearl River and across the

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Inland Waterways over to the me shoe

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assembly facility in New Orleans and out

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out the mouth of the Pearl and around

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the tip of Florida to Cape Canaveral

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where you would launch the Rockets and

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even though the area was sparsely

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populated NASA did have to move five

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communities to make way for the

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construction of the facility West onea

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Santa Rosa Napoleon Gainesville and log

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the Janesville community was a unique

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community the loveless grocery store

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mrs. Louise Lovelace who operated the

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store with her husband was sort of a

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focal point in the community around the

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corner from the grocery store

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there was a lady and I don't remember

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her first name but she was referred to

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as ain't blue her name was aunt blue

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Davis when we acquired her home as a lot

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of the others did she didn't have it

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demolished but she reserved the right to

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remove it and she had a house mover as I

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recall his name was day lead row net

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from the Gulfport area who loaded that

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house and took it up around the

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Nicholson area and blue Davis never left

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it she said on the back porch in a

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rocking chair and went down the highway

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with that house and I can still see that

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lady today and I think she had maybe a

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nice I believe a mrs. Freeman Davis that

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rode with her as that house went down

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the highway up over 43 to the Nicholson

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area

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a lot of us look on senator Stennis was

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more of a statesman than a politician he

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told us that if any of you have any

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trouble dealing with the Corps of

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Engineers on doing the eminent domain

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you call me and I'll see what I could do

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and he did help people who called him it

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was a daytime meeting and the way they

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handled the questions and answers they

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had couriers and I was one of them with

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people if they had a question they

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wanted to ask the head to write out the

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question and then we would take it up to

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the podium I don't know who the lady was

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I took her question up and her question

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was why do we have to go to the moon

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still at the Stennis answered that

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question in this way he said we have to

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go to the moon but for international

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prestige senator Stennis had another

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quote that day that became rather famous

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he said there's always the thorn before

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the rose the thorn being eminent domain

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the rose being the opportunity that

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those people had to play a major role in

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America's prestigious space program I

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was the highly elated very proud of

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America I felt that night I'll tell you

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why I felt that way I felt that we were

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part of it since we had given up our

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land and move and everything that we

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we had the challenge of building a very

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large rocket test facility it was a

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swamp here there wasn't anything here

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except the rushan house which is behind

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us the challenge was significant in

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today's dollars that would amount to a

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billion dollar facility we have to build

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it from scratch and when it was

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completed it was going to test the

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awesome Saturn 5 rockets that were going

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to take men to the moon

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Jerry been associated with Stennis Space

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Center for almost his entire existence

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in the Apollo days we used to see Jerry

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once a week as he flew down from

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Washington where he was responsible for

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overseeing the construction of the

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Mississippi test facility in those days

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there were scheduled problems the s2

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stand was a critical facility was

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determined to be the most critical

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facility in achieving the Apollo mission

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and therefore there were lots of

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pressure to complete the construction on

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schedule

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we did not know at the time what all it

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took and yet all that was going to take

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to really construct and to put together

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the type of facility that's required to

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support the space program but as time

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passed and as we continue to work and

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continue to lay out the boundaries and

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the foundations for construction the

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roads began to appear power lines begin

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to appear buildings begin to appear then

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then it stopped coming together we had

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to clear an awful lot of land we had to

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put in an awful lot of facilities many

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of which were very highly technical

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facility very high pressure systems and

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and liquid oxygen and hydrogen that was

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going to be required and then test

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stands over to a little further the east

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of it our responsibilities for us in the

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early days was to construct the

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facilities get it to a point to where it

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could be operable

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and all during those days it took about

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three years for us to finish and

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finalize all the facilities is now known

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as a Stennis Space Center the

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construction activation phase brought

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out the very best of everyone it was

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characterized by superb leadership dr.

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Wernher von Braun director of the

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Marshall Center appointed a navy captain

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bill fortune as first project manager

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captain fortune was highly respected by

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his employees and especially popular in

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the communities the first American flag

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to fly over this site symbolizing NASA's

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presence here was raised by Captain

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fortune and dr. von Braun that event

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brought home a reminder of dr. von Braun

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early involvement with this facility he

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was not merely an overseer or a visitor

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he was a participant in fact he often

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referred to this South Mississippi site

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as his baby

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you know he was a fine gentleman and a

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true professional and really knew how to

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get everybody a consensus to his ideas

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and how to move them forward and Carl

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Heinberg and Bernie Tessman his deputy

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were in charge of his test laboratory up

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there in Huntsville and we worked very

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closely with them developing the

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requirements for this facility Carl was

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a hard driver but a very very tough and

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fair man very focused on where he wanted

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things to go

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Tessman was a had a good personality at

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a good sense of humor and he filled in

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some of the people gaps but both of them

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were fun to work with and of course we

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had Henry order and gentleman named

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garden art Lee was significant and

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bringing together the focus to get this

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place activated with three or four

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thousand new employees coming on plus

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three thousand contractors and get

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things done Ken Riggs was outstanding

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and bringing together the test

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experience and requirement to our

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planning team some people think I'm

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kidding when I tell them that during the

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month of July we had to wear a jacket a

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denim

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jacket or some other form of jacket that

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was thick enough to prevent the

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mosquitoes from penetrating you your

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clothing rainy season there was a lot of

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mud and so that slowed things down when

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we excavated for the foundations that

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will hold 40 feet deep and so you got

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down to where water wanted to just

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bubble in the bottom and we had to put

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in more deeper and deeper wells so that

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we could pool the water table down

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congestion I mean there was work going

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on everywhere here and just lots of

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activities happening simultaneously we

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had that snow about a 10 inch snow down

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here in Mississippi we did have some

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unusual problems during construction and

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sometimes resorted to resource the

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methods to solve them even to the point

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of using news to do what modern machines

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couldn't accomplish one of the

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photographs taken of that activity

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became world-famous that picture was

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real family that picture went around

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from coast to coast they told me my boss

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asked me say do you know how to fly our

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muse I told him yes I do it was kind of

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wet soggy you was kind of barking but we

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in the spring of 1965 Jackson bolts was

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appointed manager of what was soon to be

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officially named the Mississippi test

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facility and with him he brought other

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leadership from Huntsville to fulfill

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the mission Jack Balch asked me if I

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would come down and be the project

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manager on the s2 program it just looked

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like an opportunity I couldn't turn down

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working for Jack was a real learning

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experience to Jack box was a unique

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character a lovable man in many ways a

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tough taskmaster in many ways he

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certainly would it would certainly would

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be an understatement on my part to say

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that he left an indelible mark here

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again he was a hard-nosed individual but

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you like Jack automatically if you like

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competence because he was a very

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competent individual it was just the

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people more than anything people tend to

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remember the hardware but it's really

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the people that made the hardware work

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there was considerable excitement in the

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air in those days with the anticipation

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of building and testing the vehicles

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that would get us to the moon people

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were being trained we were learning how

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to handle large volumes of hydrogen it

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was an exciting time for sure everything

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was out of the ground facility while we

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were putting in cables terminating

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cables s2 was getting ready to finish

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out at Seal Beach and be shipped in here

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and it was just a real beehive of

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activity getting ready for the first

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test and you remember the s2 was

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probably the most controversial of the

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Saturn 5 stages and that it was liquid

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hydrogen had a common bulkhead and

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expected expected a lot of problems it

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was pretty pretty difficult because we

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were running round the clock

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no days off no it wasn't anything like a

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weekend you just kept right on going

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coming up to the test everybody was

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pretty tired but I can remember the

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feeling that that they certainly wanted

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to get it off and it wasn't any question

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about we were going to do it

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it took some twenty five hours after the

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blockhouse was sealed to get that test

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off lots of bugs in the system things

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that had to be worked out but ultimately

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we weren't successful in the test was a

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major accomplishment a major milestone

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and at that time they had the countdown

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of the test firings on the operational

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intercom site-wide and everybody would

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listen to the countdown and as it got to

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the last few seconds you would if you

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could go outside so that you can see the

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the rocket testing started in 1966 and

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every rocket that was tested here

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performed its mission flawlessly in

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flight in freaking out meant to the moon

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like all Americans I remember it well

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being at home with my family keeping my

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kids up for all night so that they could

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see this historical moment and then

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finally to see Neil Armstrong step on

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the moon and having a sense of pride

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that I had some little small part of

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that although all the people here at Mt

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F in those days as we call it the

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Mississippi test facility felt an

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enormous amount of pride in the fact

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the people at MTA and their neighbors

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didn't have long to enjoy the laurels of

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that fantastic mission even as a nation

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was celebrating that first lunar landing

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an ill wind was brewing in the Gulf of

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Mexico that would change the destinies

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of thousands of people and the

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directions of the Mississippi test

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the meal came along devastated the coast

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killed several of our employees damaged

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our facilities and it was a time when

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our people came together Hurricane

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Camille focused the attention of the

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country on this area and NASA Bogut's

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back and said we want to help in this

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area and NASA provided substantial help

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to the area not only by continuing the

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operations here but in many other ways

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in the local community the MTF

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management team under the leadership of

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Jackson Volks was engaged in a diligent

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search for new roads and missions even

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before the tragedy of Camille when we

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started hearing about the Mississippi

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test facility and the fact that the

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rocket testing was phasing down here and

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we were asked to think of things that

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could be done here assistant center

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director at Johnson Space Center Bob

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Pollin was asked to define an activity

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to be implemented here and he defined

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this laboratory NASA established the

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earth resources laboratory at MTF and a

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number of federal and state agencies

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were also invited to utilize the

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facilities plan was set out to convert

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the Mississippi test facility from a

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single agency NASA single mission

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propulsion testing to a multi-agency

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multi mission federal laboratory a great

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shot in the arm however was in the 1970

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time frame the committee met in early 71

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NASA decided to put the testing for the

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during his first term as administrator

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of NASA dr. Jim Fletcher decided that

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the installation should be renamed and

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it's reporting changed in June of 1974

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MTF became the National Space Technology

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laboratories that was in recognition of

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some of the application and technology

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type projects that this facility became

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involved in after the Apollo era I was

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asked if I was interested in coming down

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there was a vacancy Jack Walsh has

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retired and Henry order his deputy was

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acting in his capacity and NASA asked me

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if I'd come down and lead this facility

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and I I said yes and he served a

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distinguished period of time twelve

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years and really his major contribution

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in my view was it he took this

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installation from the fringes of

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involvement with NASA programs to the

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centerline and during Jays tenure we had

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major improvements in our involvement

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with NASA relationships with other

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centers our involvement in the program's

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new programs were assigned to Standish

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new facilities were built Gerry's

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00:21:03,370 --> 00:21:00,650
knowledge of NASA his leadership ability

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and his knowledge of how NASA

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headquarters in the Congress work sure

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did pay off for all of us here at

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that was a great day it was a

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recognition by NASA that this

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installation is part of the family part

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of the family of NASA it was a day that

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we honored a great Mississippian and a

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00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:40,660
great American he had a great deal to do

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with this place he was like the father

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of this installation he worried and

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00:21:49,140 --> 00:21:46,690
worked for its advancement in his

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00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:49,150
progress ever since it was established

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and he

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in addition had not only supported the

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programs that were here in Mississippi

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but he supported the entire national

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00:22:03,990 --> 00:22:01,540
space program he felt it is the right

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00:22:07,410 --> 00:22:04,000
program for the agency he supported

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00:22:10,110 --> 00:22:07,420
Kennedy when he announced his intention

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to go to the moon and therefore it was a

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great good feeling not only for me but

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00:22:20,490 --> 00:22:17,370
all the employees of this installation

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00:22:25,020 --> 00:22:20,500
we feel that Senator John Stennis got

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00:22:29,550 --> 00:22:25,030
the test site for us and I think we owe

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00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:29,560
him a great debt of gratitude farther

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00:22:38,010 --> 00:22:33,690
his effort than that John C Stennis I

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00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:38,020
call Uncle John because this was his

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00:22:44,490 --> 00:22:40,930
second home he just loved to be out here

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00:22:48,780 --> 00:22:44,500
I felt like that when they changed it to

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Stennis Space Center it was a long time

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00:22:53,790 --> 00:22:50,470
coming for John Stennis because he

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00:23:00,060 --> 00:22:53,800
deserved everything every recognition

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00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:00,070
has been given him through the efforts

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of Technology and through everybody

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00:23:14,549 --> 00:23:11,080
you know has has grown even more and the

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00:23:18,730 --> 00:23:14,559
shuttle program seems to be moving

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moving forward off moving ahead with

429
00:23:25,090 --> 00:23:21,679
tremendous strides the whole thing comes

430
00:23:27,250 --> 00:23:25,100
to roya ever since I met Roy Estes he

431
00:23:32,350 --> 00:23:27,260
has always been the guy who could exude

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00:23:35,140 --> 00:23:32,360
confidence and and everything's gonna be

433
00:23:37,060 --> 00:23:35,150
alright hang in there well the people

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00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:37,070
the team but Stennis Space Center have

435
00:23:44,919 --> 00:23:40,250
have made substantial successes in the

436
00:23:47,110 --> 00:23:44,929
last few years and largely I think

437
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:47,120
because of the foundations that were

438
00:23:52,750 --> 00:23:51,050
laid by those who came before us and we

439
00:23:54,850 --> 00:23:52,760
have been successful in carrying through

440
00:23:56,860 --> 00:23:54,860
those with tremendous amount of support

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00:24:01,240 --> 00:23:56,870
from NASA headquarters

442
00:24:04,450 --> 00:24:01,250
starting with Admiral truly JR Thompson

443
00:24:06,940 --> 00:24:04,460
dr. Lenoir all have been very strong

444
00:24:07,660 --> 00:24:06,950
supporters of the emerging extended

445
00:24:10,390 --> 00:24:07,670
Space Center

446
00:24:12,690 --> 00:24:10,400
everybody from the people who gave up

447
00:24:15,910 --> 00:24:12,700
their land to the technicians engineers

448
00:24:19,630 --> 00:24:15,920
businesspeople everybody who's had a

449
00:24:21,810 --> 00:24:19,640
part of this it has made in my view a

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00:24:25,630 --> 00:24:21,820
major contribution to the country's

451
00:24:28,870 --> 00:24:25,640
success in space and the people of South

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Mississippi of South Louisiana that work