NASA Tests Engines for New Moon Flight

On October 21, RS-25 engine number 10001 was tested at the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The engine operated for nearly eight and a half minutes—500 seconds—the same duration the RS-25 runs during the launch of the SLS rocket.

During the test, it was brought to 111% power—a thrust level required for new production engines to launch the SLS and Orion into orbit. The objectives included acceptance testing of components for future Artemis missions and verifying new nozzle thermal protection. The work was carried out by NASA, L3Harris Technologies, and Nova Space Solutions.