NASA successfully started a test fire of the Space Launch System’s four core stage engines today at its Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, but the test shut down safely barely a minute into what was planned as an 8-minute fire. This was supposed to be the last test before the big rocket launches late this year, but that could change depending on the after-test review.
The four refurbished space shuttle main engines ignited on schedule sending clouds pouring into the Mississippi sky. But something alerted the rocket’s monitoring systems of a problem and triggered the safe shutdown.
John Honeycutt, manager of the SLS program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, told a press conference Saturday night that he saw a “flash” in the thermal blanket that surrounded Engine 4. Otherwise, Honeycutt said test managers don’t know what caused the shutdown and how long it will be before another test.
A successful test Saturday would have been a major milestone for the core stage developed and managed by Marshall in Alabama. Engineers did gather large amounts of data from the engines’ successful start and minute-long fire. The core stage had 1,400 sensors attached for the test.
“This is not a failure. This is a test,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. Bridenstine said Saturday was “a successful day” and thanked the NASA team working on SLS and the test team at Stennis.
Reporters asked Honeycutt and and Bridenstine how quickly the test might be restarted and whether NASA still has a chance to make its goal of launching the rocket with an Orion capsule on top for an uncrewed flight around the Moon this year. “It is too early to tell,” Bridenstine said.
But Bridenstine, whose tenure as NASA administrator is ending with the change of presidential administrations, defended the often-delayed SLS program when private space company SpaceX is aggressively building and testing its own potential Moon rocket. He said SLS is still the only rocket in the world capable of carrying humans to the Moon and back. “We’re not feeling as happy as we could,” Bridenstine said of the test, but NASA is not discouraged.
(This story is developing and will be updated)