NASA News
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
John C. Stennis Space Center
(228) 688-3341 Aug. 20, 2004
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
STS-04-078
NASA PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (228) 688-3341
June Malone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala.
(256) 544-0034
STENNIS SPACE CENTER HELPS NASA RETURN TO FLIGHT
HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. – Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi have tested the final of three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) that will carry the next Space Shuttle into orbit.
The engine tested Thursday, Aug. 19, will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for installation on Space Shuttle Discovery, readying it for STS-114 mission that is headed to the International Space Station. Designated as the Shuttle’s Return-to-Flight mission, STS-114 is expected to launch no earlier than next spring.
The test began at about 8:10 p.m. It ran for 520 seconds, the length of time it takes a Space Shuttle to reach orbit. Initial indications are all test objectives were successfully met.
“Our NASA and contractor team has continued to work hard over the past year and a half to make sure this incredible piece of machinery maintains its impeccable safety record,” said Miguel Rodriguez, director of the Propulsion Test Directorate at SSC. “Today’s test is one more proof of that. All the effort will pay off when we see the Space Shuttle Discovery lift off next spring. To know we had such a big part in returning the orbiter to flight will be a great reward. We are all very proud.”
Engineers conduct rigorous testing to verify that an engine is ready to fly. Developed in the 1970s, the Space Shuttle Main Engine is the world’s most advanced liquid-
fueled rocket engine ever built and the first reusable one. Temperatures inside the engines reach 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit – hot enough to melt iron – and the pressure mounts to as high as 6,000 pounds per square inch. During the eight-and-a-half minutes the Shuttle’s three Main Engines burn, they produce energy equivalent to 23 Hoover Dams – about 37 million horsepower.
Each engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 7,000 pounds and is seven-and-a-half feet in diameter at the end of its nozzle. It generates almost 400,000 pounds of thrust.
“The successful completion of this test is a significant milestone in our efforts to return the Space Shuttle safely to flight,” said Gene Goldman, manager of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “There has been a tremendous effort by the team at Stennis, both civil servant and contractor, to ready the engines for flight. Their diligent attention to detail is critical to the safe and reliable performance of the engines.”
The Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power division of The Boeing Co. of Canoga Park, Calif., manufactures the Shuttle’s Main Engines. Pratt and Whitney, a United Technologies Company of West Palm Beach, Fla., builds the high-pressure turbopumps. NASA’s Space Shuttle Main Engine Project Office administers the main engine program. SSC conducts engine tests.
For more information about NASA’s Return to Flight efforts, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight
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News releases provided by NASA’s Stennis Space Center are available at https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ssc/news/newsreleases/2004. For more information, call the NASA Public Affairs Office at Stennis at 1-800-237-1821 in Mississippi and Louisiana only, or (228) 688-3341.
2004 News Releases