A European delegation led by the Consul General of France in Atlanta, Louis de Corail, also including the Consuls General of Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom based in Atlanta, accompanied by Armand Ousselin (Deputy https://fscience-old.originis.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GLOC_Oslo_Norway_S2_27juillet2022_web-2-1.jpg Representative in the United States), visited NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on 12 December 2018.
Welcomed by high-level Representatives of the facility, Steve Miley (Associate Director of the center) and Johnny Stephenson (Director of the Office of Strategic Analysis and Communications), the delegation had the opportunity to learn about the history of the center and grasp its main current activities:
- Managing of the Space Launch System program (SLS; heavy launcher, in particular for future crewed cis-lunar launches),
- Supporting scientific and human activities carried out on the International Space Station (ISS),
- Development of monitoring systems for Earth’s climate and meteorological patterns within the Global Hydrology and Climate Center,
- Strong involvement of the center in the design, development and construction of space telescopes (Hubble, JWST, Chandra X-ray Observatory).
The delegation could also watch the real-time monitoring of experiments conducted on the ISS by teams from the International Space Station Payload Operations Center.
The sequence ended with the visit of the SLS Structural Test Stands #4693 and #4697, where the propulsion systems and fuel tanks of NASA’s future launcher are being tested.
