AJ-26 Rocket Engine Fails Test at Stennis, Impact on June 10 Launch Unknown
An AJ-26 rocket engine failed during a test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center today. AJ-26 engines are used for Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket. The next launch of that rocket is scheduled for June 10 to take cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
Orbital said in a statement that the test “terminated prematurely, resulting in extensive damage to the engine.” NASASpaceflight.com, which is not a NASA website, cited unnamed sources as saying the engine “exploded.”
AJ-26 rocket engines are Russian NK-33 engines, built more than four decades ago, that are imported and refurbished by Aerojet-Rocketdyne for Antares. Orbital developed Antares and its Cygnus spacecraft for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) or “commercial cargo” program to take cargo to the ISS. All three Antares launches to date have been successful.
Orbital’s statement said that the engine was slated for a future Antares mission and it is “not known at this time whether this incident will have any effect” on the June 10 launch.
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