NASA Administrator Highlights Space Launch System Rocket Booster Test

NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, explains why the upcoming Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Flight Support Booster-1 (FSB-1) test is a milestone for NASA, the Artemis program and future deep space exploration. The flight support booster being tested at Northrop Grumman’s test facility in Promontory, Utah. on Sept. 2, 2020, is structurally identical to each of the five-segment solid rocket boosters on SLS. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, NASA and Northrop Grumman, SLS booster lead contractor, have followed federal and state guidelines to further progress and continue to work safely to manufacture, assemble and test the SLS solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Artemis missions. This is the first SLS booster that examines potential changes to the booster for future Artemis missions. NASA is working to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway, and human landing system are part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration.