NASA Successfully Tests Rocket Engine For Moon Rocket After Brief Pause
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is busy testing its rocket engines for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is the backbone of its plans to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon through the Artemis program. The SLS is the world's most powerful operational rocket, and it is slated to fly to the Moon again a year from now as part of the Artemis 2 mission. Artemis 2 will be the first time that humans undertake a journey to the Moon after the Apollo program, and it will see a crew of four aboard the Orion spacecraft and orbit the celestial body before landing on Earth.
As it tests the rocket engines at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, NASA is also busy installing the engines on the SLS's core stage at it Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. In fact, the space agency finished structurally joining the engines on the massive core stage, after it mounted them to the rocket in late September.
Unlike SpaceX, which tests its rockets during development, NASA assembles the vehicle first and then lights the engines up on the complete system at the time of launch. However, the engines are put through static fire tests before they are mated to the rocket, and these simulate launch conditions to ensure that the engine will perform as expected during flight.
The RS-25 engines powering the SLS are the same design that flew on the Space Shuttle. The first Artemis mission, which flew last year, used some engines that had already flown on the Shuttle. However, future missions will use new engines with an upgraded build.
Even though NASA is yet to
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