Washington: Nasa conducted a test firing of the engines for its giant Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket on Saturday but they shut down earlier than planned, the space agency said.
The "hot-fire" test at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was supposed to last a little over eight minutes -- the time the engines would burn in flight -- but they shut down just over a minute into the burn.
"Teams are assessing the data to determine what caused the early shutdown, and will determine a path forward," Nasa said in a statement. The SLS rocket is intended to launch the Artemis missions that will take US astronauts back to the Moon. Despite being cut short, Nasa said the test of the RS-25 engines had provided valuable information for the planned missions.