NASA Invites Media to Update on Rocket Test for Artemis I Moon Mission

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 5:30 p.m. EST today, Tuesday, Jan.19, to discuss the engine test conducted Saturday, Jan. 16, for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will launch the agency's Artemis I mission. Agency leaders and industry partners will discuss the test, known as a hot fire, which took place at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

The Green Run test series is a comprehensive assessmet of the rocket's core stage prior to SLS launching Artemis missions to the Moon. During the hot fire test, engineers powered up all the core stage systems, loaded more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or supercold, propellant into the tanks and fired all four engines at the same time.

The test plan called for the rocket's four RS-25 engines to fire for as long as eight minutes – the same amount of time it will take to send the rocket to space following launch – but the engines shut down a little more than one minute into the hot fire.

Initial data analysis determined the shutdown was triggered by test parameters that were intentionally conservative to ensure the safety of the core stage during the test, and preliminary inspections indicate the rocket's hardware is in good condition, and all the core stage systems including the engines performed as expected. Data analysis is continuing to help the team determine whether a second hot fire test is required.

Participating in the briefing are:

• NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
• Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate
• John Honeycutt, SLS program manager, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
• Julie Bassler, SLS stages manager, Marshall
• Ryan McKibben, Green Run test conductor, Stennis
• John Shannon, vice president and SLS program manager, Boeing
• Jeff Zotti, RS-25 program director, Aerojet Rocketdyne

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Kathryn Hambleton at [email protected] by 4:30 p.m. today for dial-in information. 

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA is working to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.

For more information about the Green Run test series, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun

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SOURCE NASA

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