It is set to become the largest rocket ever built, dwarfing the rockets that took man to the moon and paving the way for manned missions to Mars. Nasa's Space Launch System (SLS) will take America to deep space - and blazed through its first successful test at Nasa's Stennis Space Centre near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The RS-25, formerly the space shuttle main engine, fired up for 500 seconds on the A-1 test stand at Stennis, providing NASA engineers critical data on the engine controller unit and inlet pressure conditions. Scroll down for video Four RS-25 engines will power SLS on future missions, including to an asteroid and Mars.
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Construction of the Space Launch System has already begun
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Rocket will eventually be 384 feet tall and weigh 6.5 million pounds
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Will be powered by four RS-25 engines - previously used to send space shuttle into orbit
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First test flight scheduled for 2017
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Will be able to carry 130 tonnes into space
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