Successful test for NASA’s giant Moon rocket

NASA successfully carried out a key static test of its troubled Space Launch System rocket on March 18, a win for the agency as it prepares to return to the Moon.

The second "hot fire" test saw all four of the rocket's RS-25 engines fire simultaneously at 4:40 pm Eastern time (2040 GMT) for the full duration of eight minutes, producing a maximum of 1.6 million pounds of thrust (7.1 million newtons).

"The applause says a lot about how the team feels," Bill Wrobel, an official in charge of the test, said during a livestream after the control room began clapping.

"Looks pretty good right now," he added.

"This is a major milestone towards advancing our goals objectives for Artemis," acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk later told reporters, referring to the lunar program.

NASA plans to place the first woman on the Moon by 2024 and build a lunar orbital station, before eventually embarking on a crewed mission to Mars.

The test's success came as a relief to the agency after an earlier run involving the 212-foot (65-meter) high core stage at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi was cut short in January.

"We've had some challenges," said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA's deputy associate administrator of exploration system development.

"I'm just so proud of the team with the way they've methodically worked through these challenges."

March 18's test was required to collect data on how the core stage behaves during critical operations like throttling engines up and down and moving them in a variety of patterns.

The rocket's tanks were filled with 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which when burned sent a huge plume of water vapor soaring into the sky.