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I'm Dale Woolridge,
a NASA project manager for Center Operations
here at Stennis Space Center.
We're here today to witness the reinstallation
of the refurbished miter gates.
Built in the sixties, the miter gates were
in desperate need of refurbishment to maintain
a safe operating condition for the locks.
The locks allows marine traffic
to enter Stennis Space Center
and access the test stands through the canal system,
bringing various items including
test hardware for propulsion tests.
So it's very critical to Stennis Space Center
to maintain a good operation.
In order to do that, we had to pull
the miter gates and have them shipped offsite
for very extensive refurbishment.
The contractor has recently brought
the gates back and is in the process
of reinstalling the gates.
Another reason why the navigation lock project
is critical is because some of the hardware,
some of the items that need to get
to the test stands can only be brought in
by marine traffic, not across the roadway.
In the interim, the contractor installed
a retaining wall to keep the canal level
back from the Pearl River.
The Stennis canal level is approximately
sixteen and a half feet above the Pearl,
so the lock system allows marine traffic to elevate
and come, come into Stennis Space Center.
The navigation lock project is just one
of many that ensures the ability for Stennis
to maintain future test operations.
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