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BAY ST. LOUS, Miss. (WGNO) — NASA fired the RS-25 engine on Wednesday for more than eight minutes on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss.

This was the fifth hot fire in a seven-part test series in support of the development and production of engines for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions to the Moon.

NASA is building SLS as the world’s most powerful rocket to send the agency’s Orion spacecraft to the Moon as part of Artemis, including missions that will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.

The agency is working towards launch of the Artemis I uncrewed flight test this year, which will pave the way for future flights with astronauts to explore the lunar surface and prepare for missions to Mars.