Shuttle Engine Testing Resumes Successfully

WASHINGTON — Long-duration trials of shuttle main engines were resumed Wednesday for the first time since the Challenger explosion Jan. 28 as one engine was fired for 250 seconds while on the ground, a NASA spokeswoman said.

The test at the Bay St. Louis, Miss., test center was a success, National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokeswoman Barbara Selby said. The test was designed to check a modification to reduce the possibility of cracks in turbine blades in the engine’s high-pressure oxygen pump.