NASA Moves Forward In Commercial Rocket Engine Testing
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- NASA conducted a test fire Friday of the liquid-fuel AJ26 engine that will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle. The test at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi supports NASA's Commercial Transportation Services partnerships to enable commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station.Orbital's Taurus II uses a pair AJ26 rocket engines built by Aerojet to provide first stage propulsion. Friday's test on the Stennis' E-1 test stand involved a team of Orbital, Aerojet, and Stennis engineers, with Stennis employees serving as test conductors.
"Once again, the Orbital and Aerojet team have achieved a major
milestone with the AJ26 engine," said Doug Cooke, associate
administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "This success moves Orbital closer to its
goal of providing NASA with commercial space transportation services to the space station."
The 55-second firing was the second in a series of verification tests
being conducted at the south Mississippi facility. A third hot-fire
test also is planned to verify tuning of engine control valves.
"This second test of the AJ26 engine not only moves Orbital's
commercial space transport plans a step ahead, but also demonstrates
again the quality and versatility of Stennis facilities and the
expertise of our test and support team," Stennis Director Patrick
Scheuermann said.
The AJ26 engine is designed to power the Taurus II space vehicle on
flights to low Earth orbit. NASA's partnership with Orbital was
formed under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
joint research and development project. The company is under contract
with NASA to provide eight cargo missions to the space station
through 2015.
For more information about NASA exploration, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/
For information about Stennis, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/
Source: NASA
