Massive moon rocket test firing aborted after early engine shutdown
By William Harwood
Updated on: January 16, 2021 / 9:29 PM
/ CBS News
Engineers test fired the first stage of NASA's gargantuan Space Launch System rocket for the first time Saturday, but the planned eight-minute-long "hot fire" ended about a minute after ignition when one of the four main engines suddenly shut down.
What impact the abort at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi might have on NASA's plans to ship the booster to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for an unpiloted maiden test flight late this year is not yet known.
"We got lots of data that we're going to go through and ... get to a point where we can make determinations as to whether or not launching in 2021 is a possibility or not," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.