NASA Conducts "Most Powerful Test Yet" Of SLS RS-25 Engine Written 23 February 2018

The Orlando Sentinel reports that in its “third engine test of the year, NASA boosted up an RS-25 engine to 113 percent capacity for 50 seconds of a 260-second test on the A-1 Test Stand” at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The RS-25 engines are all “converted from the space shuttle program,” and the Space Launch System (SLS) features four of the engines along “with two solid rocket boosters to create more than 8 million pounds of thrust.” When SLS launches, it will “surpass the 7.6 million pounds of thrust from the Apollo program’s Saturn V rockets.” Engines for the first SLS launch, Exploration Mission-1, have already been tested, while the engines “being tested now at Stennis are for Exploration Mission-2, which will be the first manned mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.” In all, 16 former space shuttle engines are “being tested at Stennis for the SLS program,” and six new RS-25 engines have been ordered from Aerojet Rocketdyne for future missions. The article also features video of the test as part of its coverage.
More Info (Orlando Sentinel)