NASA has conducted a 500-second, live-fire test of an engine controller installed on an RS-25 development engine for the Space Launch System rocket at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The space agency will verify the data collected from the live-fire test held Thursday and then install the Engine Controller Unit-2 on one of the four Aerojet Rocketdyne-built RS-25 flight […] More

Alan Stern, chairman of the board of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, has said CSF supports development work and potential use of NASA’s Space Launch System for commercial spaceflight missions, Space News reported Wednesday. Jeff Foust writes Stern made the remarks in a speech Tuesday at the 20th Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington. “There […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has received a potential eight-year, $174 million contract to develop, test and certify RL10 upper stage engines for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. NASA said Saturday the contract will run through Feb. 29, 2024 and covers the production of 10 RL10C-3 engines and two spare engines in support of the SLS rocket’s second and third space flights […] More

NASA has conducted a series of tests with Orbital ATK, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Aerojet Rocketdyne to evaluate the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket that the agency plans to launch in 2018 as part of an unmanned space exploration mission. Lockheed’s engineering teams have completed proof pressure tests on the Orion crew […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed additional tests on a development engine for a NASA launch vehicle at the Stennis Space Center to check the engine’s capacity to withstand a challenging operational environment. Aerojet Rocketdyne said Thursday the RS-25 engine dubbed 0528 that NASA will use for the Space Launch System ran for 420 seconds on power levels that range from 80 percent to […] More

NASA engineers continue to analyze data collected from the second qualification test conducted on Orbital ATK-built booster for the Space Launch System to demonstrate the technology’s power and operations capacity. The assessment took place June 28 at Orbital ATK’s facility in Utah and aimed to evaluate the SLS booster against 82 qualification test objectives that were measured through more than 530 instrumentation […] More

NASA and Orbital ATK have completed the second qualification ground test of a booster for the Space Launch System, which the agency developed with Boeing to send the Lockheed Martin-built Orion crew module on deep-space missions. The test occurred Tuesday at an Orbital ATK facility in Utah and was the final booster evaluation before the scheduled unmanned flight of the Orion […] More

NASA will subject the booster for a Boeing-built rocket to a second ground qualification test on June 28 at an Orbital ATK facility in Utah. The space agency will broadcast Tuesday the live coverage of the two-minute booster test for the Space Launch System via NASA Television and then conduct a media teleconference to evaluate the live-fire […] More

An Orbital ATK facility has started to host a NASA operation that will analyze a test version booster’s capacity to perform at extreme temperatures. NASA said Friday three large air-conditioning units began to continuously pump air at 25 degrees Fahrenheit through June 28 in an effort to hit reach the 40-degree cold temperature target for the Space Launch System […] More

NASA will conduct the second qualification ground booster test for the deep-space rocket Space Launch System on June 28 at an Orbital ATK test facility in Utah. The space agency set up 82 qualification test objectives that it will measure during the two-minute booster test, NASA said Thursday. The test will use approximately 530 instrumentation channels and operate at a […] More

Orbital ATK has set up the second qualification motor for NASA‘s Space Launch System boosters ahead of a ground test to assess the boosters’ performance against low temperatures on June 28. The company said Monday the static-fire test of the second motor called QM-2 follows the ground test of QM-1 in 2015. “Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has secured two contracts worth a combined $1.36 billion for the development of technologies to power the Space Launch System rocket and the CST-100 Starliner crew module that Boeing is building for NASA. NASA said Tuesday Aerojet Rocketdyne will build an expendable version of the company’s RS-25 engine for the SLS heavy-lift launch vehicle under a […] More