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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
LAGNIAPPE
Volume 21 Issue 1
John C. Stennis Space Center
January 22, 1998
SSC to begin RS-68 testing and assembly
Stennis Space Center won a contract in September 1997 to assemble and test the RS-68 engine and to test the first-stage common booster core for the Boeing Co.’s Delta 4 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV).
The EELV is a $1.4 billion U.S.
Air Force program that will produce the next generation of unmanned launch vehicles. The new EELV will replace the aging fleet of Atlas, Delta and Titan rockets that have been in service since the 1960s. Like those rockets, the Delta 4 will send NASA and Department of Defense satellites into orbit and launch planetary probes.
The Rocketdyne Division of Boeing North American Inc. in Canoga Park, Calif., is developing the RS-68 engine. It will generate between
650.000	and 745,000 pounds of thrust, making it the world’s largest liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen engine. Space Shuttle Main Engines, currently tested at Stennis, produce between 350,000 'and 512,000 pounds of thrust.
Because Delta 4 rockets will be expendable, each engine will be a throwaway with a one-mission life span. Stennis personnel will assemble and test every Delta 4 flight engine.
The engine will then be shipped to Decatur, Ala., where it will be assembled into the rocket.
The RS-68 provides a 30 percent gain in performance over conventional liquid-fueled engines. It does not rely on new technology or exotic materials, and it uses 7 percent fewer parts than the Space Shuttle Main Engine.
NASA officials at Stennis said the new test program will not result in a lame increase in employment, but it wifi secure existing employment and the space center’s role in propulsion testing.
“We're gradually increasing our employment as new programs come along,” said NASA’s Lon Miller, deputy director of propulsion testing. “It's gradual because other programs, such as the Space Shuttle Main Engine program, are ramping down as other grains are building up. Fortunately, buildup is slightly greater than the
See RS-68, Page 8
Space Shuttle Main Engines are placed on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Tnis will be the first flight of three Block IIA engines aboard the shuttle. All were tested and proven flight worthy at Stennis.
Block IIA SSMEs take first flight on shuttle
STS-89, set for launch today from Kennedy Space Center, will be the first Space Shuttle mission to fly three Block IIA main engines that were tested at Stennis Space Center.
NASA’s ongoing upgrades to the Space Shuttle include enhancements to the orbiter’s liquid-fueled main engines.
The Block IIA configuration is NASA’s next step towarcTa more reliable and economic main engine. The configuration contains a new large throat main combustion chamber that is
considered the single greatest safety improvement to the shuttle engine.
Other enhancements include modifications to the main injector, upgraded hydraulic actuators and sensors, and improvements in the low-pressure fuel and oxidizer turbqpumps.
The first Block IIA Space Shuttle Main Engine arrived for testing at SSC in March 1997.
Shuttle upgrades are critical for deploying the International Space
See SSME, Page 8
John Glenn to return to space in October
the
History was made last week with NASA’s announcement that Senator John Glenn has become NASA’s newest astronaut. Glenn will tly aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, scheduled to launch in October and will serve as a payload specialist on that mission.
Glenn made history 35 years ago when he strapped himself into a nine- by -seven foot capsule atop an experimental rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. Recently he asked NASA if he could tly again to conduct space-based research on a«ing, but only if he met the Agency’s physical and mental requirements.
“Not only is John Glenn a Marine test pilot, an astronaut, and the first American to
See GLENN, Page 4
Sen. John Glenn