i think we will see it fly because of political will to waste as much money as possible. But the day it flies it will already be obsolete compared to private industry. Better to cut the losses and shoot it in the head now, but that'll never happen.

I grew up near the Stennis Test Center, so seeing the test stands back in action was kind of sentimental to me. My mom even worked on the facility for USN NRL.

I hadn't kept up on NASA or the SLS project, so didn't know about the background on the engines or the program. Kind of sad.

My dad, who worked on the Saturn V rockets that were tested there back in the day, kind of laughed at NASA hyping up the SLS's power and warning residents about the noise and vibration on test day, but they are a fraction of the Saturn V first stage that used to be tested. My parents didn't even hear the test Saturday and wondered if it got cancelled. When I was younger the shuttle engine test would sometimes rattle the windows.

Neighbor worked at the Cape during Apollo. Said that a Saturn launch sounded, and felt, like the finger of God reaching out to touch the sky.

Best,
Rich

At the Stennis Test Center, there is a huge megaphone on a tower. I was always told that back in the day before testing the Saturn V engines, they would use that to test the atmospheric conditions to ensure the sound would not exceed certain thresholds to do damage to surrounding communities.

For those that don't know, the Stennis Space Center is located in southern Mississippi, and is surrounded by several miles of unoccupied forest as a Buffer Zone. There used to be several communities in the area that were bought out and no longer exist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stennis_Space_Center
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3612219 ... !1e3?hl=en

Now saying it was conservative software parameters:

https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarock ... down-cause

The engine bells on these engines thrash around during startup. On the space shuttle, you might recall that before startup, the engines were gimbled out to the side somewhat to the engine bells didn't slam against either other. In a few seconds, when everything stabilized, the engines were gimbled back to their flight orientation.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/CdHcj_kp1UQ[/youtube]

More info:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01 ... ore-stage/

Minor issue. I have no idea why it will take almost a month to re-test.

NASA has a software tweak. It will take 4 weeks to test again.

SpaceX explodes SN8 on the landing pad. 6 weeks later, SN9 is ready to go and SN10 is already built.

Very different philosophies.

Mike C.

NASA has a software tweak. It will take 4 weeks to test again.

SpaceX explodes SN8 on the landing pad. 6 weeks later, SN9 is ready to go and SN10 is already built.

Very different philosophies.

After the Shuttle engines were fired, they had to be dried out by purging with heated nitrogen for a couple days. The hydrogen and oxygen fuel turns into...you guessed it...water. You really don't want water in the turbopump bearings. Rather than inspect the engines in place for return to flight, they just swapped out the entire engines and performed the inspections in the SSME facility. So I'm guessing that the delay will be caused by having to change out the SLS engines. That would require setting up some platforms and removing the heat shields, demating the electrical connectors, etc.

I've read that at launch with all five F-1 engines at full thrust the Saturn V created a man-made earthquake that could be measured by seismographs as far away as New York City.

Dan

After the Shuttle engines were fired, they had to be dried out by purging with heated nitrogen for a couple days. The hydrogen and oxygen fuel turns into...you guessed it...water. You really don't want water in the turbopump bearings. Rather than inspect the engines in place for return to flight, they just swapped out the entire engines and performed the inspections in the SSME facility. So I'm guessing that the delay will be caused by having to change out the SLS engines. That would require setting up some platforms and removing the heat shields, demating the electrical connectors, etc.

Thread jacking .... just watched the Challenger mini-series on Netflix. Pretty good; brought back lots of memories.