When the A-3 test stand was conceived, it was part of a grand plan. It was going to be used by NASA for testing the J-2X rocket engine, which would be used to take humans back up on the moon.
The test stand was completed in June, with construction work totaling $349 million. Expensive, yes, but that's not the real problem. What's worse than spending millions of tax-payer dollars? Spending millions of tax-payer dollars for nothing.
Apparently, America is no longer keen on going to the moon, shelving the rocket program the A-3 test stand was made for back in 2010. That was four years ago yet construction continued on the test stand. Having known that the test stand would not be used for anything, NASA mothballed the structure, closing it up and leaving it empty without having been ever used.
Now that the A-3 test stand is done, it will need to be "maintained," a task that will cost NASA around $700,000 a year. That's $700,000 annually for a test stand that will never be used.
Space travel oozed American pride so there was no one prouder about what they were doing than the construction crew hired to erect the gargantuan test stand. Imagine their surprise to find out that their work would never be utilized, just standing in the Stennis Space Center like a ghost.
"What the hell are they doing? I mean, that's a lot of people's hard-earned money. It's heartbreaking to know that, you know, you thought you'd done something good. And all you've done is go around in a damn circle, like a dog chasing his tail," said David Forshee, general foreman for pipefitters assigned to build the A-3 test stand.
Forshee should take that up with then-Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Tex) who was responsible for keeping the A-3 test stand's construction going. Deftly, in a meeting, Hutchinson moved that amendments be adopted to the NASA reauthorization bill. When everyone in the committee said "aye," Sen. Roger Wicker's amendment that NASA "shall complete construction and activation of the A-3 test stand with a completion goal of Sept. 30, 2013" was approved. The Senate passed the bill, followed by the House. Then President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.
In an interview this year, Hutchinson said she doesn't remember how Wicker was able to include his amendment during the meeting. When Wicker was himself asked, "Just talented legislating" was all he had to say.
