The test run called for throttling the engines down and back up as they will be during an actual flight, testing the rocket's thrust vector control, or steering, system and monitoring how ...

His development program was comprehensive, with static test vehicles, a low-altitude hopper, and extensive testing of the key technology: thrust-vector control.

On the latest attempt with a brand-new thrust vectoring Scout E rocket, he has gotten tantalizingly close to doing a controlled propulsive landing with a solid-fuel rocket motor.

A video still from a thrust vector control test of the Teprel-B engine PLD Space is developing for its suborbital Mirua 1 rocket. Credit: PLD Space via YouTube.

If this scenario occurred during a flight, the rocket would have continued to fly using the remaining CAPUs to power the thrust vector control systems for the engines." ...

As planned, the thrust vector control systems gimbaled the engines to simulate how they move to direct thrust during the rocket’s ascent.