Space Launch System infographic on capabilities for deep space.
Powered by four RS-25 engines and twin solid rocket boosters, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket produces 8.8 million pounds of thrust to propel the agency’s Artemis missions to the Moon. Offering more payload mass, volume capability and energy to speed missions through deep space, the SLS rocket is designed to be both flexible and evolvable to enable a variety of missions, including landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024. SLS, along with NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit and the Orion spacecraft, is NASA’s backbone for NASA’s deep space exploration. It is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon on a single mission.
Image Credit: NASA/Bailey Collins