The B-2 Test Stand at Stennis, originally built to test Saturn rocket stages that propelled humans to the moon, is being completely renovated to test the SLS core stage in late 2016 and early 2017. The SLS stage, with four RS-25 rocket engines, will be installed on the stand for propellant fill and drain testing and two hot fire tests. Read the full story here. A test of the Saturn V first stage, S-1C-5, is conducted on Aug. 25, 1967 on the B-1/B-2 Test Stand at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center. The test involved simultaneous firing of five F-1 engines. NASA now is preparing the B-2 position on the stand to test the core stage of its new Space Launch System, which will involve the simultaneous firing of four RS-25 engines. For more information visit www.nasa.gov. Image credit: NASA/SSC |
An Apollo Saturn S-IC rocket stage is removed from the B-1/B-2 Test Stand at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center on Aug. 28, 1968. The Saturn V stages were used on Apollo missions that carried humans to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Image credit: NASA/SSC |
The B-1/B-2 Test Stand is a dual-position, vertical, static-firing structure built at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in the 1960s. First stages of the Apollo Saturn V rocket were tested on the stand from 1967 to 1970. Stennis now leases the B-1 test position to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for testing of RS-68 engines. It is preparing the B-2 test position to test the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System in late 2016 and early 2017. The SLS stage, with four RS-25 rocket engines, will be installed on the stand for propellant fill and drain testing and two hot-fire tests.
Image credit: NASA/SSC |
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense