SPACE.com -- Boeing Test Fires New Delta 4 Rocket Engine at Pad 37

Delta 4 Still Aiming for November Launch but Problems Persist

Boeing Delays First Flight of Delta 4 Several Weeks

Construction Complex for New Cape Launch Pads


	Boeing Test Fires New Delta 4 Rocket Engine at Pad 37 By Kelly Young FLORIDA TODAY posted: 08:00 am ET 15 October 2002

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- For the first time in more than 10 years, a new rocket engine tried out its lungs and bellowed fire and smoke from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The RS-68 engine, installed in Boeing's new Delta 4 rocket, test fired at 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 GMT) for about five seconds. The firing was the culmination of a practice countdown in advance of the rocket's first flight in mid-November.

"That's exactly what I expected," said Jim Harvey, Boeing's project manager for the first flight. "I was happy to see it go on and go off."

The available launch time began at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT). But launch software indicated nitrogen pressure was out of limits when it was actually fine, so that delayed the firing for more than an hour and a half.

Several large bolts kept the rocket secured to the refurbished Launch Pad 37 during the violent firing.

The liquid hydrogen- and liquid oxygen-fueled engine generated 650,000 pounds of thrust.

"Nobody has ever developed an engine like this and done in it in the amount of time that Rocketdyne did," said Dan Collins, Boeing vice president and program manager of the Delta programs.

All new rocket engines are test fired before they make their actual flight. Most of the testing takes place elsewhere, though. The last test firing in Florida occurred in 1991 for shuttle Endeavour's three main engines.

The Delta 4 will carry a European Eutelsat communications satellite when it launches next month. Boeing has reserved Nov. 16 as the launch date, but it could liftoff as early as Nov. 14 if everything goes smoothly in the next few weeks.

"Delta 4, obviously to Boeing Launch Services, is the heart of our offerings," said Will Trafton, president of Boeing Launch Services, which markets Boeing's rockets.

Now that the test firing is through, the satellite will trek to the launch pad on Oct. 31 to be placed atop the rocket. The rocket fired its engines without the usual nosecone on top that protects the satellite.

The Delta 4's domestic competitor, the Atlas 5, first launched in August. It flew with a veteran Russian engine, so they did not have a similar test firing at the Cape.

The last time a rocket was test fired at the launch pad was shuttle Endeavour. Its engines were ignited for about 20 seconds in 1992 as part of a final test of the newly built orbiter before its inaugural mission.