NASA moved one step closer on Thursday to launching its next-generation spacecraft on a new heavy lift rocket destined for Mars.

The space agency's countdown to deep-space exploration continued with a 535-second test of its Space Launch System (SLS) RS-25 rocket engine at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The test was designed to collect engine performance data.

SLS will launch astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on missions to deep space and eventually on the journey to Mars.

One final test of the RS-25 developmental engine is planned, and the testing of flight engines is slated to take place in the fall.

The RS-25 engine is one of the four engines that will power the core stage of the heavy rocket.

The test, which lasted about nine minutes, was designed to take place over the same amount of time the engines will fire during an actual launch.

SLS will launch an unmanned Orion crew capsule on its first test flight from Kennedy Space Center in 2018.