SSC to test Blue Origin engines

Another commercial engine will be tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., next spring, according to NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. She made the announcement while visiting Blue Origin in Kent, Wash., Thursday. The company is one of NASA's commercial partners developing systems to reach low Earth orbit as part of the Commercial Crew Development Program. Garver said Blue Origin has delivered its BE-3 engine thrust chamber assembly, the engine's combustion chamber and nozzle, to SSC, where testing will begin in April 2012 on the E-1 Test Stand. The company is developing a reusable launch vehicle, designed to take off and land vertically, and an escape system for its crewed spacecraft. "We're delighted Blue Origin is taking advantage of Stennis, a center with a long record of propulsion testing from the dawn of the Space Age, to test the rocket engines of the future," Garver said. (Source: NASA, 12/08/11)