NASA SLS Green Run testing complete, Boeing readies Core Stage for tow to Florida
April 12, 2021
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and prime Core Stage contractor Boeing wrapped up the Green Run testing campaign on the Artemis 1 flight article at the Stennis Space Center and are readying the vehicle for its long-awaited shipment to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. After reviewing the performance of the vehicle from its second test-firing in mid-March, NASA and Boeing agreed that the stage could be reconfigured from testing to launch.
While refurbishment activities continue, the team at Stennis has also started disconnecting the stage from the test stand to prepare for departure from Stennis. Weather will be a key factor in when the stage can be put on board the agency’s Pegasus barge to start the waterway tow trip from Stennis to Kennedy, but a late-April arrival at KSC is still possible with KSC schedules currently forecasting attachment of the Core Stage t
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NASA SLS Core Stage aborts high-stakes Green Run static fire
January 16, 2021
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and Core Stage prime contractor Boeing were ready for the big moment of the rocket’s Green Run campaign and the biggest moment in the 10-year old program, a static firing of the stage. After a year of test cases at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, visits from hurricanes, and waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, an eight-minute long, flight-duration Hot-Fire test was planned for January 16 to demonstrate the readiness of the new rocket stage for its first launch.
The firing lasted only 67.7 seconds, well short of full-duration and the minimum two minute duration firing NASA said was necessary to complete the test. The abort was triggered by a Major Component Failure indication on Engine 4.
NASA Sets Date for First Hot Fire Test of Space Launch System Core Stage
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss., Jan. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines are being targeted to hot fire in unison for the first time on Jan. 17 as part of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Green Run test series. These engines will power the SLS rocket as the U.S. prepares to return humans to the Moon to stay and then on to Mars.
The upcoming 493-second hot fire test will mirror the engines’ thrust profile in flight and is the main event of the SLS Core Stage Green Run test series that has been underway since January 2020.