NASA Announces Successful Completion of First Firing Test for Artemis Moon Mission Rocket Engine

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The first full-scale booster engine test for the Space Launch System, the largest US rocket motor ever built, at Promontory, Utah was a full success, National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials announced.

“NASA and Northrop Grumman successfully complete the Flight Support Booster-1 (FSB-1) test in Promontory, Utah, on September 2", the space agency said on Wednesday. "The full-scale booster firing was conducted with new materials and processes that may be used for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket boosters".

NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS boosters lead contractor, will use data from the two-minute-long firing test to evaluate the motor’s performance using potential new materials and processes for Artemis missions beyond the initial Moon landing in 2024, the space agency added.

"The SLS boosters are the largest, most powerful boosters ever built for flight. The two boosters on the rocket provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed to launch NASA’s future deep-space missions through NASA’s Artemis lunar program", the space agency said.

The SLS flight support booster firing was a crucial part of sustaining missions to the Moon the beginning of NASA’s Artemis Program, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine noted.