 On 16 July 2007 NASA officially announced the award to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) of a $1.2 billion contract "for design, development, testing and evaluation of the J-2X engine", and began construction of a new test stand for altitude testing of J-2X engines at Stennis Space Center on 23 August 2007.Component testing was undertaken between December 2007 and May 2008, with nine tests of heritage J-2 engine components at SSC in preparation for the design of the J-2X engine.and on 8 September 2008 PWR announced successful testing of the initial J-2X gas generator design.