NASA test-fires shuttle engine for SLS rocket A former space shuttle engine roared to life Thursday in Mississippi, billowing steam from a Mississippi stand during a nearly nine-minute test firing.The test shown live on NASA TV was the third of four preparing upgraded shuttle engines to lift NASA Space Launch System exploration rocket, whose core stage will be powered by four of the RS-25 engines.The agency is targeting a first launch of the 322-foot SLS rocket and an uncrewed Orion capsule in 2018 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B.Positioned on the A-1 test stand at Stennis Space Center, the hydrogen-fueled engine fired as planned for 535 seconds, the same duration as an actual SLS launch.The Aerojet Rocketdyne engine is equipped with a new controller, or �brain,� among its improvements.Shuttles flew with three reusable main engines positioned at the back of the orbiter, and they were refurbished between missions. SLS engines will not be recovered, and NASA plans to restart production of the RS-25.Two stretched versions of shuttle solid rocket boosters also will help lift the SLS rocket early in flight, for at least the first two launches, and they also will not be recovered as they were with shuttles.A first SLS launch with a crew is possible by 2022, sending two astronauts around the moon.