The center conducted the first static test firing of the Apollo/Saturn V second-stage prototype engine in April 1966, and less than a year later, began testing the first and second stages of the rocket. This testing led to one of humankind's most phenomenal achievements when, in July 1969, Americans landed on the Moon.
Following the Apollo era, the Space Shuttle improved access to space as the first and only reusable spacecraft. In December 1970, Roy Estess, a NASA engineer and future center director at SSC, presented a proposal to NASA Headquarters that all Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) testing be done at the Mississippi Test Facility. On March 1, 1971, NASA selected the facility to do all SSME sea-level testing.
The Apollo-era test stands were converted from the Apollo/Saturn V configuration to accommodate the Shuttle engines, and on June 24, 1975, the first test firing of an SSME took place. On April 12, 1981, the first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, powered by engines tested at SSC. A major milestone in the Space Shuttle program will be achieved in the near future, when the one millionth second of hot-fire testing and flight operations of the Space Shuttle Main Engines is reached.
SSC's state-of-the-art facility is America's largest rocket test complex and is composed of a 125,00 acre buffer zone, a national asset. The A-, B- and E-Complexes are designed for propulsion testing that ranges from component to engine to stage-level. SSC's flexible, three-stand E-Complex with its seven separate test cells serves as a component test facility for future generation rocket engines. This testing includes the first reusable hydrogen-fueled advanced engine in development since the SSME along with two kerosene-fueled engines. Full-power testing on the Linear Aerospike engine was accomplished on the A-1 Test Stand in December 1999. Technology tested on the Linear Aerospike may be used on engines that will power future spacecraft.
The Boeing Co. chose SSC as the site to assemble and test the RS-68 engine for its Delta IV launch vehicle program. The RS-68 engine is the world's largest liquid-oxygen, liquid-hydrogen engine. Boeing's Delta IV family of expendable rockets is used to launch virtually any medium or heavy payload up to 25 tons into low-Earth orbit. Test services are available at SSC not only for NASA but also for the Department of Defense, other government agencies, academia and industry. As NASA's Center of Excellence for Rocket Propulsion Testing, SSC's role in future space flight promises to remain as vital as it has been in the past.
