Ray Castillo

Headquarters, Washington, DC March 21, 1995

(Phone: 202/358-4555)

June Malone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 205/544-7061)

RELEASE: 95-32

NEW SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE READY FOR FLIGHT

NASA has successfully completed testing a new high

pressure liquid oxidizer turbopump and is ready to fly an
upgraded main engine on its first Space Shuttle flight in
June 1995.

"Completing flight certification of the Alternate High

Pressure Oxidizer Turbopump is a major milestone in the
Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) program," said Otto Goetz,
SSME deputy project manager for development, Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.

"The Alternate Turbopump is now ready for its first

flight and for nine flights thereafter. Credit goes to
Pratt and Whitney and Rocketdyne, to the experts in
Marshall's Science and Engineering Directorate, and to the
folks at Stennis Space Center who supported an aggressive
test program," Goetz added.

NASA completed final certification of the new liquid

oxygen high pressure turbopump on March 15. The new pumps
underwent a test program that is equivalent to 40 Space
Shuttle flights. By achieving this milestone, NASA reached
the final step in certifying the turbopumps for flight.

"The certification is unprecedented in that none of the

certification units had to be removed from the engine during
the test series," said Goetz. NASA did not perform any
detailed inspections other than verifying free pump rotation
after each test.

The high pressure liquid oxygen pumps used in the

current SSME must be removed after each flight for
inspection. The new pumps will not need any detailed
inspection until they have flown ten times. The new pumps
also are expected to increase safety margins and reliability
for the SSMEs. These engines provide approximately 1.5
million pounds of thrust during launch of the Shuttle into
low-Earth orbit.

-more-

-2-

The new turbopump also incorporates state of the art

technology in its design. The pump housing is produced
through a casting process, thereby eliminating all but six
of the 300 welds that exist in the current pump.
Eliminating welds is one of the keys to increasing safety
margins on the main engine.

The new pump uses a new ball bearing material --

silicon nitride (a type of ceramic). Silicon nitride offers
several advantages over the steel bearings currently in use.
The material is 30 percent harder than steel and has an
ultra-smooth finish which allows for less friction during
pump operation. Friction creates heat that leads to wear on
the bearings. These new ceramic bearings eliminate concerns
over excessive wear to the pump-end ball bearing.

Along with the new turbopump, NASA will fly a new two-
duct powerhead. This new powerhead will significantly
improve fluid flows within the engine system by decreasing
pressure, reducing maintenance and enhancing overall
performance of the engine. It will replace three smaller
fuel ducts in the current design with two enlarged ducts to
achieve improved engine performance. This new engine
configuration is being called the Block I engine.

On STS-70, one SSME will be a new Block I engine. The

remaining two engines will have the current SSME design.
The first flight planned to incorporate the new pumps into
all three engines is STS-73, currently targeted for launch
in September 1995.

The SSME project is managed by NASA's Marshall Space

Flight Center. Pratt and Whitney, West Palm Beach, FL,
developed and manufactured the new pump; Rocketdyne, Canoga
Park, CA,will integrate the pump into the main engine.

-end-

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