Historic Gulf Coast NASA test aborted early; engineers trying to figure out what went wrong

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    HANCOCK COUNTY, Mississippi (WALA) — A history making NASA test this weekend along the Gulf Coast was aborted early.

They were hot firing the Artemis core stage rocket at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

After months of delays from a pandemic, hurricanes and issues NASA engineers had to work through, all four engines of the core stage rocket roared to life for the first time to cheers.

For about one minute, in what was supposed to be an eight-minute test the Artemis core stage rocket came alive as it simulated a launch.

It was securely strapped into the B-2 test stand at Stennis Space Center.

The rocket generating 1.6 million pounds of thrust and a lot of noise before a computer automatically aborted the test about 60 seconds in.

It is unclear what went wrong.

“The engineers are going to go over all the data, they’re going to make assessments, determine what needs to be fixed,” said Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator.

Despite the test aborting an eighth of the way in, NASA is not admitting defeat.

“This is not a failure, this is a test and we tested today in a way that is meaningful where we’re going to learn, we’re going to make adjustments and we’re going to fly to the moon,” Bridenstine said.

It is the most powerful NASA test since the Saturn rockets of Apollo and something like this has not happened along the Gulf Coast in 40 years.

“It was like an earthquake,” Bridenstine said. “Those of you who were here felt it. The ground shook. It shook all the way to your soul.”

The core stage tested Saturday will be used in the un-crewed Artemis 1 mission which will fly around the moon. It was expected to happen later this year, but with the test billed as the final one before blastoff ending early it is not yet known if a 2021 launch is in jeopardy.

“We’ve said all along we would like to get at least to 250 seconds, but I think we need to at least do our due diligence and go look at the data that we have collected,” said John Honeycutt, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

The Artemis program’s goal is to get America back on the lunar surface with the first woman and the next man by 2024.

Two NASA astronauts looked on as the engines fired up, thinking about the future.

“The first woman and the next man are gonna be somebody that I know and so I’m very excited to be a part of the space program at this time,” said Tracy Dyson, a NASA Astronaut.

“We’re all super excited, anyone of us is excited to go to the moon and push humanity forward,” said Matthew Dominick, a NASA Astronaut.

The test of what will be the most powerful rocket in the world, not to plan, but still another step closer to exploring the Moon and eventually Mars.

After the test, the rocket was to be sent to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but it is unclear how the shortened test will impact that or if another hotfire will be necessary.

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