Overview
- The first full-scale static fire of the BOLE five-segment solid rocket booster at Promontory, Utah, ended with the nozzle disintegrating within the final ten seconds of the two-plus-minute burn.
- Following nozzle failure, the booster continued firing to depletion and its exhaust ignited a hillside fire near the stand.
- Jim Kalberer, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of propulsion systems, said the anomaly yielded crucial late-burn data to refine the booster design.
- NASA awarded a $3.2 billion BOLE contract in 2021 to build solid rocket boosters for Artemis IV–VIII and develop the next-generation design for Artemis IX.
- A fiscal year 2026 funding clash over ending SLS after Artemis 3 or extending it through Artemis 5 leaves the BOLE program’s operational future uncertain.