NASA tests biggest, most powerful rocket booster ever made

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The second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test for the Space Launch System’s booster is seen on June 28, 2016, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah, US. (AFP)

NASA has tested the biggest and most powerful rocket ever made, the SLS booster, in the western US state of Utah.

On Tuesday, crowds gathered to watch the testing of NASA’s Space Launch System’s (SLS) key component in the Utah desert.

Guests watch the second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test for the Space Launch System’s booster on June 28, 2016, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah, US. (AFP)

During the test, temperatures inside the rocket reached almost 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,316 °C).

“Today's test is the pinnacle of years of hard work by the NASA team, Orbital ATK and commercial partners across the country,” said John Honeycutt, SLS Program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 

The booster’s test was the last before the SLS’s initial unmanned test flight with NASA's Orion spacecraft scheduled for 2018 as part of the agency’s Mars mission.    

This NASA photo shows the Space Launch System’s booster after the second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test on June 28, 2016, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah.  (AFP)

“This final qualification test of the booster system shows real progress in the development of the Space Launch System,” said William Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 

“Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress we're making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space,” he added.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to send the first manned mission to Mars in the 2030s, and is currently trying to upgrade its space launch systems and Orion Spacecraft in a manner that they will be capable of transporting passengers to the red planet.