By Andy Pasztor and Andrew Tangel NASA and Boeing Co. suffered a potentially major setback in their deep-space ambitions when the engines for a giant new rocket shut down prematurely Saturday during a key test on the ground. The engines were supposed to produce power for eight minutes but shut down after about 60 seconds while fastened to a stand at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Program officials had said four minutes would be the minimum time to gain confidence in the reliability of the engines, fuel system and surrounding structures. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said they couldn t immediately determine the cause of the premature shutdown, and therefore it was too early to determine what fixes would be necessary or even if the test needed to be repeated. They said engineers didn t know whether it was a hardware, software or sensor malfunction.
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NASA Makes Blue Origin Eligible to Launch Future Missions Without Crews
Jeff Bezos and his company’s New Glenn rocket, which hasn’t yet flown, get nod to potentially carry scientific payloads later this decade Billionaire CEOs Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are on a mission to send tourists to the stars. Here s how each company is approaching the new space race. Photo composite: Heather Seidel/The Wall Street Journal (Originally Published March 22, 2019) By Updated Dec. 17, 2020 12:01 am ET
The space transportation company run by Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos reached another important steppingstone in its effort to become an established launcher of U.S. civilian and national-security payloads.