The SLS core stage was built by Boeing and is the world's largest and most powerful rocket stage, according to NASA. It incorporates four RS-25 engines designed by Aerojet Rocketdyne, which run on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel and are capable of generating 1.6 million pounds of thrust.
The formidable SLS rocket is estimated to measure a staggering 365 feet in height and has been developed for the Artemis missions, which aim to return astronauts to the moon by 2024.
The spacecraft's largest component and structural backbone is the core stage, which has been rigorously tested by NASA's Green Run program during seven previous checkups that thoroughly assessed each of its elements. Today's firing of the engines will mark the program's eighth and final step and aims to prove the spacecraft is ready to take flight.
"Our core-stage Green Run is the most comprehensive test that we're undertaking to make sure that SLS can safely launch the Artemis missions to the moon," SLS program manager John Honeycutt said in a press conference last month.
"This is a generational opportunity to learn as much as we can about the rocket while we've got it in this test configuration before we get to fly."
"This is a generational opportunity to learn as much as we can about the rocket while we've got it in this test configuration before we get to fly."