Boeing’s moon rocket ground test is cut short

WASHINGTON >> NASA’S deep space exploration rocket built by Boeing briefly ignited all four engines of its behemoth core stage for the first time Saturday, cutting short a crucial test to advance a years-delayed U.S. government program to return humans to the moon in the next few years.

Mounted in a test facility at NASA’S Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the Space Launch System’s 212foot tall core stage roared to life for just over a minute — well short of the roughly four minutes engineers needed to stay on track for the rocket’s first launch in November this year. The engine test, the last leg of NASA’S nearly yearlong Green Run test campaign, was a vital step for the space agency and its top SLS contractor Boeing before a debut unmanned launch later this year under NASA’S Artemis program, President Donald Trump’s administration’s push to return U.S. astronauts to the moon by 2024.

It was unclear whether Boeing and NASA would have to repeat the test, a prospect that could push the debut launch into 2022.

To simulate internal conditions of a real liftoff, the rocket’s four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines ignited for roughly one minute and 15 secondsthe expendable super heavy-lift SLS is three years behind schedule and nearly $3 billion over budget. Critics long have argued for NASA to retire the rocket’s shuttle-era core technologies, which have launch costs of $1 billion or more per mission, in favor of newer commercial alternatives that promise lower costs.