{"id":11797,"date":"2021-03-18T20:01:42","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-moon-rocket-scores-an-a-on-critical-engine-test\/"},"modified":"2021-03-18T20:01:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:01:42","slug":"nasas-moon-rocket-scores-an-a-on-critical-engine-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-moon-rocket-scores-an-a-on-critical-engine-test\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s moon rocket scores an \u2018A+\u2018 on critical engine test"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Four RS-25 engines fire at the base of the Space Launch System core stage during Thursday\u2019s test-firing at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA TV\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The core of NASA\u2019s first huge Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket designed to carry astronauts back to the moon aced a crucial test-firing Thursday in Mississippi, clearing the way for shipment to Florida for launch preparations.<\/p>\n

The 212-foot-tall (65-meter) Boeing-built core stage functioned as designed during the test-firing at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, two months after a previous hot fire test prematurely ended a minute after ignition.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019ve seen in the test today looked nominal, so I would say that the core stage got an A-plus today,\u201d said John Honeycutt, the SLS program manager at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n

The test paves the way for NASA to transport SLS core stage to Florida for preparations for its first launch, which will send an unpiloted Orion capsule on a mission to orbit the moon and return to Earth. SLS\/Orion missions will carry astronauts to the moon on NASA\u2019s Artemis program.<\/p>\n

The four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 main engines flashed to life at 4:37 p.m. EDT (3:37 p.m. CDT; 2037 GMT) Thursday on the B-2 test stand at Stennis, the same towering facility once used to test-fire Saturn 5 moon rockets during the Apollo program.<\/p>\n

Ramping up to full power \u2014 equivalent to a 109% throttle setting \u2014 the engines generated more than 1.6 million pounds of thrust as a plume of steam exhaust climbed high above the space center in southern Mississippi.<\/p>\n

The engines throttled down to a 95% power setting about a minute into the test, following a thrust profile they will use during a real flight to ease the rocket\u2019s flight through the dense, lower regions of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n