RS-25 – Spaceflight Now

NASA opts to go ahead with full-duration SLS core stage test-firing

July 27, 2019

After considering canceling a planned full-duration test-firing of the Space Launch System’s core stage in Mississippi ahead of the heavy-lift rocket’s first flight, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced this week that the agency will press ahead with the test next year, citing safety and reliability benefits for future astronauts riding on the launcher on missions to the moon.

New SLS engine controller tested in hold-down firing

March 23, 2017

A shuttle-era RS-25 rocket engine was fired at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Thursday in the first test of a new engine control computer that will launch on the first flight of the agency’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket as soon as late next year.

Aerojet Rocketdyne wins propulsion contracts worth nearly $1.4 billion

November 27, 2015

NASA and Boeing have awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne widely-anticipated contracts to restart the production of simplified shuttle-era rocket engines for the heavy-lift Space Launch System and supply the propulsion system for the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule, officials announced this week.

Rocket engine fires up in latest test for behemoth booster

August 13, 2015

A hydrogen-fueled rocket engine ignited with a bone-rattling sonic wave Thursday at NASA’s test facility in Southern Mississippi, throttling up to more than a half-million pounds of thrust to verify upgrades to the space shuttle’s main engines can power a humongous new launcher off the planet.

Shuttle-era rocket engine primed for test firing

August 13, 2015

NASA plans to fire up a space shuttle-era rocket engine in Mississippi on Thursday for nearly nine minutes to validate upgrades to the powerplant for the Space Launch System, a new mega-rocket under development to boost astronauts on missions to deep space.

Video: Former shuttle engine test-fired

January 19, 2015

A former space shuttle main engine is tested at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi in preparation for its use on the Space Launch System rocket.

NASA kicks off SLS engine testing in Mississippi

January 13, 2015

A powerful space shuttle-era rocket engine ignited for more than eight minutes on a test stand in Mississippi last week, kicking off hotfire testing for NASA’s Space Launch System mega-rocket after contamination and computer woes kept the engine silent several months longer than planned.