NASA Space Launch System Fire Test Moon Rocket
NASA successfully completed an eight-minute test of the Space Launch System engines on a Boeing-built rocket for Artemis missions that aim to return U.S. astronauts to the moon by 2024 at its Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The four RS-25 engines came to life for the full duration of the test and shrouded the surrounding area with clouds of white smoke. The SLS is now expected to travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for integration with Lockheed Martin Corp’s Orion spacecraft.



This hot fire is the eighth and final test of the Green Run series to make sure the core stage of the SLS rocket is ready to launch Artemis missions to the moon, with Artemis I scheduled in November to orbit the Moon with an un-crewed spacecraft. The two propellant tanks in the SLS core stage hold more than 733,000 gallons of supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to help fuel the RS-25 engines located at the bottom of the stage.

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The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and during today’s test the core stage of the rocket generated more than 1.6 million pounds of thrust within seven seconds. The SLS is an incredible feat of engineering and the only rocket capable of powering America’s next-generation missions that will place the first woman and the next man on the Moon. Today’s successful hot fire test of the core stage for the SLS is an important milestone in NASA’s goal to return humans to the lunar surface – and beyond,” said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk.

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