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NASA successfully tests space shuttle main engine NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: October 25, 2005 For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi returned to its primary business today, testing space shuttle main engines. Engineers successfully test-fired an engine for 520 seconds; the time it takes a shuttle to reach orbit. Today's engine test is an indication that Stennis and the region are working toward recovering from the storm. Today's test was a continuation of a certification series on the Advanced Health Management System, which monitors the engine's performance. It enables the engine to shut down if unusual vibrations are detected in the turbopump. It's an upgrade that provides a significant improvement for lower risk for shuttle main engines. Other engine parts were tested and certified, such as a fast-response temperature sensor. "We are very pleased to be testing again," said Gene Goldman, manager of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. "It's a testament to the dedication and character of the Stennis workforce that they are able to test so soon after hurricanes Katrina and Rita." Approximately 25 percent of Stennis' 4,500 employees lost their homes, and the majority had varying degrees of damage. Stennis has tested and proven flight-worthy every space shuttle main engine since the first in 1975. |
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This 2005 Atlantic hurricane season has a been a record-breaker. Satellite imagery since June 1 has been compiled into this movie to track the 21 named storms as they formed and traveled, many making landfall.
International Space Station cameras captured this incredible video of Hurricane Wilma and its well-defined eye from an altitude of 220 miles. Wilma was packing winds of 175 miles an hour as a Category 5 storm when the station flew overhead.
NASA has used the Hubble Space Telescope for scientific observations of the Earth's moon in the search for important oxygen-bearing minerals -- potential resources for human exploration. Scientists held this news conference on October 19 to discuss their investigations.
Space shuttle external fuel tank No. 120 is moved out of Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building and loaded onto a barge for transport to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Once there, the tank will undergo modifications prior to being returned to Florida for a future launch.