Yesterday engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center conducted a long duration hot fire of a RS-25 certification engine for future flights of the Space Launch System rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon.
This test was focused on demonstrating the gimbaling, or pivoting, capabilities needed to stabilize a rocket during a launch and flight to space.
The testing includes engines for future Artemis missions to the Moon, as NASA returns humans to the lunar surface to establish a long-term presence for scientific discovery and to prepare for human missions to Mars.
During a 12-minute (720 seconds) hot fire, operators gimbaled the RS-25 engine using a NASA Stennis-developed system to enable pivoting of the engine, mirroring maneuvers needed during launch and flight of the SLS rocket. The 720-second hot fire marks the longest-duration test of an RS-25 certification engine in the current test series.
