It will be the first firing of the Space Launch System (SLS), the long-awaited (and delayed) rocket ship that NASA plans to use for non-commercial human space flight.
However, during this first ignition, only the liquid fuel engines at the core of the rocket will be tested, without the solid fuel boosters that will one day help carry SLS into orbit.
When the SLS core test-fires, it will become the most powerful rocket ever ignited on Earth.
At 322 feet tall (98 meters), the SLS stands a head shorter than the 363-foot (110 m) Saturn V rockets that carried astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and '70s. But this rocket is substantially more powerful, producing 15% more thrust during liftoff and ascent.
When complete, if everything goes right, the SLS will have the capacity to carry more than 27 tons (24,000 kilograms) to the moon — much more than the 24 tons (22,000 kg) the Space Shuttle hauled into low-Earth orbit, though technically less than the Saturn V carried to the moon.
The test will cap off an eight-part testing program NASA has dubbed the SLS "green run."
The seventh part, successfully completed Dec. 20, 2020, showed that the rocket could be loaded with 700,000 gallons (265,000 liters) of supercooled liquid fuel and then have that fuel removed without incident.
The hot fire will take place at at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
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