Tag: Space Launch System
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Photos: SLS test booster ignited in Utah
Pushing out a brilliant plume of nearly 5,000-degree exhaust, a test booster for NASA’s Space Launch System fired in Utah for more than two minutes Tuesday to verify the upgraded space shuttle-era solid rocket motor is ready to help send astronauts into deep space. The 154-foot-long (47-meter) booster ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT;…
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Space Launch System booster fired in final preflight qualification test
The 154-foot-long solid rocket motor ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT) in Promontory, Utah. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News A solid-fueled rocket motor mounted horizontally on a Utah hillside ignited and powered up to more than 3 million pounds of thrust Tuesday in a final full-up test-firing before a similar booster helps propel NASA’s…
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Huge solid rocket booster to be test-fired Tuesday
The qualification motor for Tuesday’s Space Launch System booster test sits at Orbital ATK’s test site in Utah. Credit: Orbital ATK A 154-foot-long (47-meter) solid rocket booster will be ignited for two minutes Tuesday at a remote test site in Utah, wrapping up a series of five ground firings to prove the motor’s readiness for…
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Congress’ omnibus bill gives NASA a Christmas bonus: a bigger $19.3 billion budget
An artist’s conception shows an orbiter at Europa, a mysterious moon of Jupiter. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) The 2,009-page omnibus bill that’s been crafted by Congress for the current fiscal year boosts NASA’s budget to $19.3 billion, which is $756 million more than the White House asked for. The big winners include NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System and its planetary…
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Aerojet Rocketdyne wins propulsion contracts worth nearly $1.4 billion
An RS-25 engine fires on the test stand in Mississippi in August as part of a series of test burns to check out the engine’s new electronics controller. Credit: NASA NASA and Boeing have awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne widely-anticipated contracts to restart the production of simplified shuttle-era rocket engines for the heavy-lift Space Launch System and…
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NASA completes SLS design review, confirms rocket to be orange
Artist concept of the Block 1 configuration of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). The SLS program has completed its critical design review, and the program has concluded that the core stage of the rocket will remain orange along with the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, which is the natural color of the insulation that will cover…
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NASA’s heavy-lift rocket and deep space capsule under new management
Mark Kirasich, NASA’s new Orion program manager, inspects Orion spacecraft components. Credit: NASA NASA has announced two veteran space shuttle engineers have taken charge of space agency’s Space Launch System and Orion deep space exploration projects after their previous managers both took the No. 2 jobs at space centers in Alabama and Texas. Mark Kirasich,…
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Orion spacecraft may not fly with astronauts until 2023
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA The first piloted flight of NASA’s Orion space capsule, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts away from Earth for the first time in two generations, may slip from 2021 to 2023, agency officials said Wednesday. A thorough review of the program in recent weeks highlighted risks that…
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Orion spacecraft may not fly with astronauts until 2023
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA The first piloted flight of NASA’s Orion space capsule, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts away from Earth for the first time in two generations, may slip from 2021 to 2023, agency officials said Wednesday. A thorough review of the program in recent weeks highlighted risks that…
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Decision looms on when to introduce new SLS upper stage
Artist’s concept of the Space Launch System’s upgraded upper stage with four RL10 engines. NASA officials want to introduce the new upper stage on the first crewed SLS launch in 2021, if budgets allow. Credit: Boeing NASA officials are waiting to see if Congress adds funding to the agency’s budget next year to kick-start development…