Media Invited to View Rocket Model Tests of NASA’s Space Launch System

Engineers are conducting wind tunnel tests at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to prepare for crew and cargo deep space missions of the second-generation Space Launch System, or SLS.

Reporters are invited to see two wind tunnel test programs of NASA’s most powerful rocket on May 5 at 10 a.m. EDT.  Engineers will be available for interviews after the tests. If interested in attending, please contact Sasha Ellis by phone at 757-864-5473 or by email at sasha.c.ellis@nasa.gov no later than noon May 4.

Reporters will first see a test in Langley’s 14-by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel, which will simulate the rocket during liftoff as it clears the launch tower. The second test, using a smaller sized model, will be in Langley’s Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel and will simulate two solid rocket boosters being pushed away from the rocket’s core.

The full-sized SLS second-generation rocket will be 364 feet tall and capable of delivering 105-metric-tons. This updated design retains the original core stage, but features a more powerful exploration upper stage. During SLS’s second mission with Orion, the rocket is expected to send four astronauts around the moon to verify technologies and capabilities needed for NASA’s journey to Mars.

For more information about SLS, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

For more information about Langley, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/langley      

For more information about Langley’s wind tunnels, visit: https://go.nasa.gov/2oPv6MN