NASA Moves Forward In Commercial Rocket Engine Testing

[NASA News <hqnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dec. 17, 2010

J.D. Harrington 
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-5241/1979 
j.d.harrington@xxxxxxxx 

Rebecca Strecker 
Stennis Space Center, Miss. 
228-688-3249 
rebecca.a.strecker@xxxxxxxx   
RELEASE: 10-341

NASA MOVES FORWARD IN COMMERCIAL ROCKET ENGINE TESTING

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- NASA conducted a test fire Friday of the 
liquid-fuel AJ26 engine that will power the first stage of Orbital 
Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle. The test at the 
agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi supports NASA's 
Commercial Transportation Services partnerships to enable commercial 
cargo flights to the International Space Station.  

Orbital's Taurus II uses a pair AJ26 rocket engines built by Aerojet 
to provide first stage propulsion. Friday's test on the Stennis' E-1 
test stand involved a team of Orbital, Aerojet, and Stennis 
engineers, with Stennis employees serving as test conductors. 

"Once again, the Orbital and Aerojet team have achieved a major 
milestone with the AJ26 engine," said Doug Cooke, associate 
administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA 
Headquarters in Washington. "This success moves Orbital closer to its 
goal of providing NASA with commercial space transportation services 
to the space station." 

The 55-second firing was the second in a series of verification tests 
being conducted at the south Mississippi facility. A third hot-fire 
test also is planned to verify tuning of engine control valves. 

"This second test of the AJ26 engine not only moves Orbital's 
commercial space transport plans a step ahead, but also demonstrates 
again the quality and versatility of Stennis facilities and the 
expertise of our test and support team," Stennis Director Patrick 
Scheuermann said. 

The AJ26 engine is designed to power the Taurus II space vehicle on 
flights to low Earth orbit. NASA's partnership with Orbital was 
formed under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 
joint research and development project. The company is under contract 
with NASA to provide eight cargo missions to the space station 
through 2015. 

For more information about NASA exploration, visit: 


http://www.nasa.gov/exploration  


For information about Stennis, visit: 


http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis  

	
-end-



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