When the Space Launch System sends the Orion spacecraft into orbit, its first stage will be powered by 4 RS-25 engines, a design used as the main engine for the shuttle. The engine has undergone changes to work with the SLS, including designs to deal with higher propellant inlet pressure, lower temperatures, and a new engine controller unit.
This was the sixth of seven planned static fire tests of the updated engine. The test at NASA’s largest rocket engine testing facility mimicked a full launch, firing the engine’s 512,000 pounds of thrust for a straight 535 seconds, the time it would take to climb 200 miles.
It burned a combination of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, releasing its exhaust in a massive plume of steam out of one side of the test stand, along with all the energy that typically would got into actually launching the thing. Onlookers watching from a safe distance got nearly nine minutes of bone-rattling power. Keep an eye out for the last planned engine test for the RS-25.