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Space
NASA Installs Historic Space Shuttle Engines on Artemis III Rocket
Technicians at Kennedy Space Center began installing four RS-25 engines — one of which flew on John Glenn's 1998 return to space — into the core stage of the SLS rocket that will carry the Artemis III crew into low…
Step by step
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RS-25 engines flew space shuttle missions
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Each engine's serial number tracks history
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Technicians install engines into SLS core stage
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SLS launches Artemis III crew in 2027
On Aug. 24, technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida began installing four RS-25 engines — powerful liquid-fuel engines that also flew on the space shuttle — into the , the section of the rocket that holds its main engines and fuel, of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The SLS will carry the Artemis III crew into , the region of space closest to Earth, in 2027.
Each carries a unique serial number that records its detailed flight history. The four engines assigned to Artemis III — E2054, E2057, E2048 and E2052 — previously powered multiple space shuttle missions.
Engine 2048 helped launch NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik's earlier mission aboard space shuttle Atlantis during STS-129.
The same engine also flew on space shuttle Discovery during STS-95 in 1998, the mission that returned 77-year-old space pioneer U.S. Sen. John Glenn to orbit, making him the oldest person to fly in space at that time.
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#NASA#Artemis III#SLS#RS-25 engines#John Glenn
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