The backbone of the world’s most powerful rocket is set to test on the Coast in 2020
As NASA eyes missions to Mars and the moon in the near future, the nation will be watching the Mississippi Coast when engines on the backbone of the world’s most powerful rocket fire later this year.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine spoke to politicians from Louisiana and Mississippi, NASA employees, media and others at the Stennis Space Center on Monday about the agency’s plans and 2021 budget numbers.
Much of NASA’s future plans rely on upcoming rocket testing at Stennis.
“It’ll be the most powerful test that’s been done since the Saturn rockets of Apollo,” Bridenstine said. “There’s a lot of effort here on the Gulf Coast that goes into NASA and America’s rocket program.”
In January, the Boeing-built core of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, was lifted and lowered onto Stennis’ B-2 Test Stand. The 212-foot core, comprised of four RS-25 engines, is expected to be fired sometime this summer.
The work is part of the agency’s Artemis program. With the help of U.S. companies and international partners, NASA aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. That work will lay the foundation for establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028, and later, sending astronauts to Mars.
Those tests on the Coast are an early step, and it culminates with an eight-minute, hot-fire run of the engines to simulate a launch. That event is set for the end of the summer, and it is the biggest test in a generation, said Maury Vander, Stennis’ chief of test operations.
“This is the first step to get us to the moon,” he said. “It’s the first time since the late 1960s that we actually have something that is going to fly here.”
Shortly after those tests, it will be sent to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch of the Artemis 1, an uncrewed flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems.
NASA’s bigger budget
Bridenstine also said Monday that President Donald Trump’s proposed 2021 budget would put more than $25 billion into NASA’s coffers — a 12% increase. Nearly half is dedicated to the moon and Mars efforts.
“If the president’s support for NASA wasn’t clear before, it sure is now,” Bridenstine said.
The proposed budget would direct more than $3 billion to the creation of a lunar human landing system. SLS and Orion, the exploration vehicle that will launch on the SLS, would be fully funded in this budget, Bridenstine said.
“In our view, SLS and Orion are fully funded,” he said. “I’m not going to argue. There might be people that say it needs more funds, and I would be happy to work with them if they think that’s necessary. But we think this budget has everything we need to maintain our effort to land on the moon.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2020 at 5:23 PM.