NASA to test engine for ‘most powerful rocket in the world’

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — NASA is preparing to test-fire engines on Saturday that could send a rocket to the moon in 2022.

The Stennis Space Center will test all four engines on its new Space Launch System. The system is the only rocket that will be able to send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts and cargo to the moon in a single mission.  

Once assembled, NASA says the system “will stand taller than the Statue of Liberty” and will be “the most powerful rocket ever built.”

The test window opens at 4 p.m. Saturday and will run until 6 p.m. The firing of the four RS-25 engines will produce a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust.