Mighty F-1: World’s Most Powerful Rocket Engine

WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL ENGINE — MSFC. NASA engineers working on the nation’s new Space Launch System have resurrected the world’s most powerful rocket engine ever flown — the mighty F-1 – and test fired its gas generator on the Marshall Space Flight Center’s Test Stand. What they learn will help engineers develop NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket due to launch Orion and its astronauts into space. Chris Protz: “If we understand how the gas generator works that was designed in the fifties and sixties, how did it operate, what are the characteristics of that engine, then we have reduced the risks of understanding how can we then bring it into an advanced booster engine.” The F-1 powered the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon. This 20-second test.is one in a series pushing the F-1 gas generator to limits beyond Apollo-era tests.