Washington: NASA's Space Launch System's hot fire test began at 5 p.m. EST on Saturday at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. NASA's Boeing-built deep space exploration rocket was set to fire its behemoth core stage for the first time on Saturday.

A crucial test delayed by the US government caps a nearly year-long 'Green Run' test campaign to validate the rocket's design. As it is a vital step before a debut unmanned launch. Later this year under NASA's Artemis program, the Trump administration's push to land humans on the moon again by 2024. Jim Maser, Aerojet Rocketdyne's Senior Vice President of Space "This is a once-in-a-generation kind of test. This will be the first time four RS-25s fire together at the same time," told Reuters. Critics have long argued for NASA to transition from the rocket's shuttle-era core technologies, which have launch costs of $1 billion, to newer commercial alternatives promising lower costs. SLS backers argue it would take two or more launches on those rockets to launch what SLS could carry in a single mission.

Reuters reported that President-elect Joe Biden's space advisers aim to delay Trump's 2024 goal, casting fresh doubts on the long-term fate of SLS. Boeing's Space Launch System manager John Shannon said NASA and Boeing's engineers have stayed on a ten-month schedule for the Green Run "despite having significant adversity this year," told reporters this week. 

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