NASA STENNIS 

PROPULSION TESTING
l Since the 1960s, NASA’s Stennis Space 

Center has grown into the nation’s largest 

rocket engine test site, featuring facilities 

collectively valued at more than $2 billion 

 and considered national assets. 

l NASA Stennis is recognized by the agency 

as the Center of Excellence for large 

propulsion system testing.

l Test facilities at NASA Stennis include A, B and 

E complexes, where propulsion tests can be 

conducted on rocket stages, full-scale engines 

and engine components.

l The A Test Complex at NASA Stennis 

includes two single-position stands – the Fred 

Haise and A-2 stands – both built in the 1960s. 

l The Fred Haise and A-2 stands have been 

used to conduct full flight-stage and engine 

component tests, as well as single-engine tests 

at sea level and simulated altitudes. 

l The Fred Haise Test Stand is designed for 

sea-level testing. It is now testing RS-25 rocket 

engines, which will power the core stage of 

NASA’s new SLS (Space Launch System). 

l The A-2 stand at NASA Stennis can test rocket 

engines at simulated altitudes up to 60,000 

feet to provide data on how they will operate 

as they head to space.

l The Test Complex at NASA Stennis also 

features the A-3 stand, the newest test 

structure at the NASA site. The stand is 

designed to allow testing in simulated altitudes 

up to 100,000 feet.

l The B Test Complex at NASA Stennis features 

a dual-position, vertical-firing stand designated 

B-1/B-2, built in the 1960s. The B-1 side is 

designed for single-engine testing. The B-2 side 

is built to accommodate rocket stage testing.

l First stages of the Saturn V rocket were fired 

at the B-2 side from 1967 to 1970. The stages 

helped power Apollo Program lunar missions, 

including the Apollo 11 flight that carried the first 

humans to the surface of the Moon.

l The core stage of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch 

System) rocket that will send the first woman and 

the first person of color on Artemis missions

to the Moon and power eventual missions to 

Mars was tested on the B-2 Test Stand during 

2020-21. Testing of the stage’s integrated 

systems culminated with the simultaneous firing 

of the its four RS-25 engines to produce 1.6 

million pounds of combined thrust, just as during 

an actual launch.

l The E Test Complex at NASA Stennis was 

constructed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

The three-stand complex includes seven 

separate test cells capable of supplying ultra 

high-pressure gases and cryogenic fluids, 

 using a variety of rocket propellants. 

l The E Test Complex offers particularly versatile 

options for testing engines and engine 

components, including those for commercial 

companies, including Blue Origin, Firehawk, 

Launcher, Relativity Space, Stratolaunch, Ursa 

Major, and Vast.

l NASA Stennis test stands are linked by a 

seven-and-one-half-mile canal system used for 

transporting rocket stages and liquid propellants. 

l Support facilities for NASA Stennis test stands 

a test control center for each complex; data 

acquisition facilities; a large high-pressure gas 

facility to supply pressurized nitrogen, helium, 

hydrogen and air; an electrical generation 

facility to help power the test complex in the 

event of disruptions in the power grid; and a 

high-pressure industrial water facility

that features large diesel pumps and a 

66-million gallon reservoir.

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