AJ26 Engine Test Firing

A team of NASA, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Lockheed Martin engineers conducted a hotfire test of Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 engine E-15 on the E-1 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center on January 17, 2014. The AJ26 engines are used to power the first stage of Orbital's Antares rocket for its supply missions to the ISS.

[orulz]

This engine (AJ-26 number E15) was built in Russia in the early 1970s as a part of the failed Russian N-1 moon rocket program. It was imported to the US in the 1990s by Aerojet Corporation and extensively modified (replacing electronics, adding a gimbal, and refurbishing due to age). This exact rocket engine happens to be the one that failed causing Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket to crash and explode on October 28th 2014.

The failure was in the liquid oxygen turbopump portion of the rocket engine, but It is not fully known what the root cause of the failure is. Possibilities include: manufacturing defects present since the 1970s, corrosion or material fatigue due to age, or the process of modification.The future of the AJ-26 engine product line has not been announced but I suspect they will be scrapped.

Orbital Sciences Corp (now Orbital ATK) have revised their rocket design to use the (also russian-built, but newly manufactured) RD-181 engine. The first launch of the revised rocket design is scheduled for today, October 17 2016, at 7:40pm US Eastern Time.

[hhn]

Holy crap, that flame trench is toast.

[hollydepthexplain]

AJ26 engine is amazing and very best 🇺🇸🇺🇸👑💕

[SaWuDOHC]

Stupid question but what would happen to someone if they stood a few feet away from that trench next to that big exit hole?

[tbone]

This is the future of American Space its happening at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.  The very definition of American Pride.