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RS-68 Engine Sets A Record And A Direction For The Future In Space

CANOGA PARK, Calif., July 08, 1999 -- The Boeing Company set a world record recently when a hot-fire test of the RS-68 rocket engine for Delta IV exceeded more than 650,000 pounds of thrust, greater than any single liquid oxygen/hydrogen engine in history. The record was achieved during the first 100-percent power level test of the RS-68 at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

"This success represents a huge milestone in the development of this new engine," said Byron Wood, vice president and general manager of Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power, the Boeing business that developed the engine. "It shows that the RS-68 has the power and robustness our development engineers intended."

In the test, the engine started to the 100-percent power level, dwelled at full power and then cut off from the 100-percent power level. All test objectives were achieved. With the completion of this latest sequence of engine tests, RS-68 engine #10202 has logged over 300 seconds of accumulated hot-fire.

"We are extremely proud of the success of our test program on the RS-68," said Rick Baily, program manager for the RS-68 at Rocketdyne. "It is a tribute to the entire Boeing and Air Force test team that we have been able to move forward with this bold new program. We look forward to continued success at Test Stand 1-A and the first launch of Delta IV in 2001."

The Boeing RS-68 team now proceeds to the next phase of engine testing at Edwards that will include long-duration tests of the engine. Meanwhile, final preparations are being made to conduct concurrent RS-68 testing later this summer at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The RS-68 engine is the first large liquid-fueled rocket engine developed in the United States since the Space Shuttle Main Engine. Remarkable for its reduced cost and cycle time, the RS-68 engine is an important element in the development of the Boeing Delta IV family of expendable launch vehicles in the company's bid to meet the growing demands for commercial and government satellite launches.

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Contact Info:
Dan Beck
(818) 586-4572