Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center conducted a Sept. 28 test of an Aerojet AJ26 flight engine that will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Taurus II space launch vehicle, continuing progress in a key commercial space transport partnership.
The AJ26 engine test at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center supports Orbital’s development activities to provide commercial cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station that are scheduled to begin in 2012. The company is scheduled to demonstrate its Taurus II rocket and its Cygnus cargo transportation system in a mission scheduled to take place later this year under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) research and development initiative. Orbital will begin commercial cargo delivery missions to the ISS for NASA beginning in 2012.
The test on the E-1 Test Stand at Stennis was performed by a team of Orbital, Aerojet and Stennis engineers. Data from the test will be reviewed and verified before the engine is delivered to the Wallops Flight Facility launch site in Virginia for installation on the Taurus II rocket’s first-stage core.
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Rebecca Strecker
NASA Public Affairs Office
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-3249
Rebecca.A.Strecker@nasa.gov