All about NASA's Boeing Moon Rocket.
                     ALL ABOUT NASA’S 
BOEING MOON ROCKET
INTRODUCTION
• US space agency NASA ignited all 
four engines of its giant Space 
Launch System (SLS) for the first 
time, but the “hot fire” test ended 
much earlier than expected.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
ABOUT THE MISSION
• Mounted in a test facility at NASA’s 
Stennis Space Center in the state of 
Mississippi, the SLS’s 65-metre-tall 
(212-foot) core stage roared to life at 
4:27pm local time (22:27 GMT) and 
burned for more than a minute 
before the exercise was aborted.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
Green Run Test
• The engine test, the last leg of 
NASA's nearly year-long "Green 
Run" test campaign, was a vital step 
for the space agency and its top SLS 
contractor Boeing.
Source: www.businesstoday.in
Boeing and NASA
• It was unclear whether Boeing and 
NASA would have to repeat the test, 
a prospect that could push the debut 
launch into 2022.
Source: www.businesstoday.in
Turnaround Time
• NASA's SLS program manager John 
Honeycutt, cautioning the data 
review from the test is ongoing, told 
reporters the turnaround time for 
another hot fire test could be 
roughly one month.
Source: www.businesstoday.in
Simulate Internal Conditions
• To simulate internal conditions of a 
real liftoff, the rocket's four Aerojet 
Rocketdyne RS-25 engines ignited 
for roughly one minute and 15 
seconds, generating 1.6 million 
pounds of thrust and consuming 
700,000 gallons of propellants on 
NASA's largest test stand, a massive 
facility towering 35 stories tall.
Source: www.businesstoday.in
Budget
• The expendable super heavy-lift SLS 
is three years behind schedule and 
nearly $3 billion over budget. 
Source: www.businesstoday.in
Cost Analysis
• Critics have long argued for NASA to 
retire the rocket's shuttle-era core 
technologies, which have launch 
costs of $1 billion or more per 
mission, in favor of newer 
commercial alternatives that 
promise lower costs.
Source: www.businesstoday.in
Comparison
• By comparison, it costs as little as 
$90 million to fly the massive but 
less powerful Falcon Heavy rocket 
designed and manufactured by Elon 
Musk's SpaceX, and some $350 
million per launch for United Launch 
Alliance's legacy Delta IV Heavy.
Source: www.businesstoday.in
BOEING MOON ROCKET
• NASA and Boeing engineers have 
stayed on a ten-month schedule for 
the Green Run despite having 
significant adversity this year, citing 
five tropical storms and a hurricane 
that hit Stennis, as well as a three-
month closure after some engineers 
tested positive for the coronavirus in 
March.
Source: www.businesstoday.in