Engine to Fly to Mars Tested

Recently rocket engine No. 2059 was fired and tested by NASA for 500 seconds successfully. Why is the testing of a deep space RS-25 rocket engine being treated as a major milestone by these celebrating researchers? That is because the next time this rocket is operated for this duration it will be carrying humans on their first deep-space mission in more than 45 years.

Yes, the mission to make humans land on Mars is not just science fiction any more. It is a mission with a deadline that will actually make it in your lifetime with just a couple more years of preparation to go. These engines have been used by the Space Launch System (SLS) missions and have powered more than 135 space shuttle missions from 1981 to 2011.

Steve Wofford, engines manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama said that not only does this test mark an important step towards proving our existing design for SLS’s first flight, but it’s also a great feeling that this engine that has carried so many astronauts into space before is being prepared to take astronauts to space once again on SLS’s first crewed flight.

Needless to say that the world waits with eagerness to see just how this science project is going to take off into outer space.