NASA Conducts First Test Fire of Shuttle-era Engine for SLS

摘要

For the first time in more than three and a half years, a Space Shuttle Main Engine roared to life Jan. 9 in support of NASA's new heavy-lift rocket. The engine, renamed the RS-25D, fired for 500 seconds atop the A-1 test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The space shuttle flew its last mission in July 2011. Four RS-25 engines are planned to power the first stage of NASA's Space Launch System, the heavy-lift rocket designed to launch astronauts on deep-space missions. The first uncrewed SLS test flight is targeted for 2018.