SANDUSKY, Ohio -- As NASA celebrates 50 years of space exploration, The Plum Brook station in Sandusky is playing a big role in some major upcoming missions, including one taking astronauts back to the moon.
News 11's Jennifer Boresz takes a trip back in time and looks to the future of the Sandusky landmark.
The NASA Plum Brook Station has come a long way since its groundbreaking in 1958.
Dave Taylor, Facility Manager of B-2, tells News 11, "I don't think people realize just how critical northern Ohio and the Plum Brook station has been to the space program over the years."
According to Dave Taylor, some of the most successful missions NASA has had would not have been nearly as successful if they weren't tested there first. "A typical space mission represents a huge investment -- not only millions of dollars, but also sometimes peoples lives. You want to be sure the hardware is going to work the way you expect it to in space."
Tucked away on the 6400 acres of the site, you'll find the world's largest space simulation chamber, creating vacuum conditions and temperatures ranging from 300 degrees to 300 below.
There's also the largest simulation chamber in the world where hundreds of rocket engines have been fired and tested. It's purpose is to be able to test out propulsion systems in a space environment on the ground.
From it's old control room, filled with buttons and lights, to a brand new state-of-the-art control room, the Plum Brook Station is moving ahead into the future. Plum Brook is expanding and growing, building a $60-80 million chamber to prepare for testing of the new Orion program.
Space Power Facility Manager Jerry Carek tells News 11, "When the space craft is launched, it sees extreme vibration environments. Then once it's accelerated to orbit, it sees some very tremendous acoustic environments as it goes supersonic. So we'll be able to simulate all of those conditions in this new facility."
Orion is scheduled to take astronauts out to the space station by 2015. One of the next stops after that is landing back on the moon. Carek says, "Eventually when we get ready to go back to the moon, NASA will be developing a new lunar lander. We expect to be doing propulsion testing on the new lunar lander in the B-2 facility as well."
In the near future, this will be the only place in the world where all environmental space system testing can be done under one roof -- a huge launch into space exploration beginning right here in our community.
