STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. (AP) — With a massive cloud of vapor and a roar, a rocket engine designed as part of a reusable spacecraft is being test fired in Mississippi.
Tom Martin from Aerojet Rocketdyne says Monday’s test of the AR-22 engine was “awesome” to see and everything went exactly as planned at Stennis Space Center.

The AR-22 engine is designed to power an experimental spacecraft called the Phantom Express. It’s a collaboration between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne.

The goal is to create a spacecraft that can repeatedly launch into space with a quick turnaround time.

Engineers are firing it up for 100 seconds and then doing it again in a 24-hour period. The goal is to do 10 test fires over 10 days. Monday’s was day six.