NPR

NASA's 8-Minute Rocket Test Shuts Down After 67 Seconds

The test was for NASA's Space Launch System, a successor to the retired Space Shuttle program. It takes eight minutes to generate the power needed to get to space, and ultimately to the moon.
In this image provided by NASA, the core stage for the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket is seen at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The four engines fired for a little more than one minute.

NASA has more work to do, after a rocket test Saturday for its shuttle replacement ended with a premature and unexpected shutdown.

The test, at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, was part of NASA's in the coming years. NASA's test called for four engines to fire for eight minutes — roughly the time it will take for NASA's long-delayed Space Launch System (SLS) to generate the thrust needed to send the rocket to space.

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