This artist concept shows NASA’s new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), being stacked in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Vehicle Assembly Building was modified to support the SLS, which also will result in the ability to process multiple types of launch vehicles. The illustration depicts the SLS Block 1 crew vehicle configuration that on its first flight will launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon. The SLS is a super-heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. For Artemis I, the SLS rocket will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to demonstrate the integrated system performance of the SLS rocket and spacecraft prior to a crewed flight.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC