NASA just fired up its SLS booster for the first time and, well, wow

[Mike Wehner]

• NASA successfully fired its solid rocket booster that will be part of the Space Launch System rocket.
• The test was conducted in Utah at the facilities of manufacturer Northrop Grumman.
• The program has been plagued with delays and cost overruns since its inception.

The Space Launch System is NASA's biggest bet on the future of space exploration. It's a rocket platform capable of propelling missions (including crewed missions) to the Moon, Mars, and perhaps beyond. It's struggled with delays and budget woes in recent years but things seem to finally be coming together, and NASA was able to broadcast the test firing of one of the SLS solid rocket boosters this week in Utah.

The booster, which will be one of two that will help push spacecraft up and out of Earth's atmosphere, needed to do two things during the testing. First, it had to actually light up. Second, it had to not blow up. It managed to complete both of those objectives.

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NASA just fired up its SLS booster for the first time and, well, wow originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 3 Sep 2020 at 18:34:28 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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