Going to the moon in 2024

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Space.com: Kablam! Watch NASA Crush a SLS Megarocket Fuel Tank Until It Explodes (Video)

If you've ever wondered what a giant rocket fuel tank looks like after exploding, a new NASA video has you covered.

In the video, which NASA released Monday (Dec. 9), engineers have purposefully exploded a test version of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's propellant tank. In doing so, they found that the tank can handle a lot more than they expect the real version to encounter in flight.

At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, engineers pushed the test tank full of liquid hydrogen way past its limits. The tank aced the test, withstanding more than 260% of expected flight loads for over five hours, at which point engineers spotted a buckling point, which soon burst.

"We purposely took this tank to its extreme limits and broke it because pushing systems to the point of failure gives us additional data to help us build rockets intelligently," Neil Otte, chief engineer of the SLS Stages Office at Marshall, said in a NASA statement. "We will be flying the Space Launch System for decades to come, and breaking the propellant tank today will help us safely and efficiently evolve the SLS rocket as our desired missions evolve."