NASA successfully tested the first deep space RS-25 rocket engine for 500 seconds March 10, clearing a major milestone toward the next great era of space exploration. The next time engine rocket engine No. 2059 fires for that length of time, it will be carrying humans on their first deep-space mission in more than 45 years.
“What a great moment for NASA and Stennis,” said Rick Gilbrech, director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. “We have exciting days ahead with a return to deep space and a journey to Mars, and this test is a very big step in that direction.”
The hot fire marked the first test of an RS-25 flight engine for NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS), being built to carry humans on future deep-space missions, including an asteroid and Mars. Four RS-25 engines will help power the SLS core stage.
The engines used on initial SLS missions are flight engines remaining from the Space Shuttle Program, workhorse engines that are among the most proven in the world, having powered 135 space shuttle missions from 1981 to 2011. For the SLS vehicle, the engines will fire at 109 percent thrust level and provide a combined two million pounds of thrust.
“Not only does this test mark an important step towards proving our existing design for SLS’s first flight,” said Steve Wofford, engines manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the SLS Program is managed for the agency. “But it’s also a great feeling that this engine that has carried so many astronauts into space before is being prepared to take astronauts to space once again on SLS’s first crewed flight.”
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/engine-test-marks-major-milestone-on-nasa-s-journey-to-mars
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