FRED HAISE TEST STAND
l The historic A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space 

Center was designated the Fred Haise Test 

Stand in March 2020, in honor of the Apollo 13 

astronaut and Biloxi, Mississippi, native.

l The stand is a single-position, verticalfiring facility, which means that it can 

accommodate one rocket engine at a time and 

that engines are fired in an upright position 

with thrust directed downward.

l Construction of the stand spanned a time from 

December 1964 to February 1967.

l The test stand extends 58 feet below ground 

and 158 feet above ground. It can withstand 

rocket engine thrust up to about 1.1 million 

pounds of force; the thrust limit is known as 

the maximum dynamic load.

l Various articles have been tested on the stand 

– Saturn S-II rocket stage, J-2 engine, space 

shuttle main engine, aerospike engine, J-2X 

engine and RS-25 engine.

l Seven tests on five Saturn S-II stages

(each with five J-2 engines) were conducted 

on the stand Sept. 19, 1967 to Nov. 14, 1969.

l A total of 1,007 space shuttle main engines

tests were conducted on the stand, including 

the first-ever test of a shuttle main engine on 

May 19, 1975. The final space shuttle main 

engine test on the stand was conducted Sept. 

29, 2006.

l Thirty-five tests of the XRS-2200 linear 

aerospike engine were conducted on the 

stand, including the first powerpack test on 

Oct. 2, 1998, the first full-engine test on Oct. 7, 

1999 and the final hot fire on Aug. 6, 2001.

l Nine J-2X powerpack tests were conducted 

on the stand Dec. 18, 2007 to May 7, 2008. 

A second round of 13 powerpack tests were 

conducted Feb. 15, 2012 to Dec. 13, 2012. 

Five gimbal tests of the J-2X engine were 

conducted on the stand June 14, 2013 to Sept. 

5, 2013. (Gimbal testing involves rotating 

engines a few degrees in any direction, just 

as they must move in flight to ensure proper 

trajectory.)

l Testing of RS-25 engines for use on NASA’s 

Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is 

ongoing on the stand. The first RS-25 test 

was conducted Jan. 9, 2015. On April 4, 2019, 

Stennis completed testing of all 16 RS-25 

engines that will help launch the first four SLS 

missions as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

l The Stennis High-Pressure Industrial Water 

Plant delivers as much as 170,000 gallons 

of water per minute at pressures of 225 

pounds per square inch to the stand during 

a test. The water is primarily used to cool the 

flame deflector and keep it undamaged as it 

redirects thrust exhaust, which exceeds 6,000 

degrees Fahrenheit, out of the stand. 

l The flame deflector is made up of 21 stacked 

angular segments – or water boxes – each 

drilled with a pattern of holes to direct water as 

needed to cool the stand’s flame deflector.

l Cooling the flame deflector with water creates 

steam that forms a billowing cloud often 

mistaken for smoke. Depending on conditions, 

the steam may condense after exiting the 

stand and create light raindrops.

l Propellants for engine tests are supplied by a 

40,000-gallon liquid oxygen run tank and a 

110,000-gallon liquid hydrogen run tank on 

the stand. Fully loaded, the tanks can supply 

enough propellant for a 350-second test. 

l RS-25 engines are tested at full-duration, 

which means they are fired for the same 

amount of time they must fire during an actual 

flight to lift a vehicle into space. A fullduration test of more than eight minutes 

requires more propellant than the stand’s run 

tanks can supply. The run tanks are resupplied 

as needed during an engine test by nearby 

propellant barges connected to the stand.

l Propellants needed for rocket engine tests are 

stored on site, then delivered at super cold 

temperatures – as low as minus 280 degrees 

Fahrenheit for liquid oxygen and minus 420 

degrees Fahrenheit for liquid hydrogen. Test 

stand piping must be designed and structured 

to withstand such extreme temperatures

without leaking or rupturing.

www.nasa.gov http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/