NASA’s Most Powerful Rocket Is (Finally) Heading to the Moon

UPDATE: Launch is now scheduled for November 15 at 10:04pm PT.

After many delays, NASA’s massive new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and uncrewed Orion spacecraft is set to blast off on a 42-day mission to orbit the Moon and back again. The Artemis 1 mission is seeking to test the new spacecraft to ensure it’s ready to take people and payload in future missions, which would begin with the Artemis 2 mission that’s slated for 2024. If that crewed Moon orbit mission goes well, a crewed mission to land on the South pole of the Moon would take place in 2025 or 2026. 

The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built standing 322 feet tall and weighing 5.74 million pounds after fuelling. The SLS Block 1 configuration heading to the Moon can generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust and reach a maximum speed of 22,670 mph by main engine cut-off. In the future, the SLS will be modified to a Block 2 design to allow for increased payload performance to launch to Mars with cargo in tow.

Learn more about this impressive rocket here or in NASA’s hype reel below!

SpaceX’s juggernaut Super Heavy-Starship – which looks like a flying grain silo – will be even more powerful. It’s designed to generate 16 million pounds of thrust and be reusable (unlike the SLS). But, it will require refuelling in Earth’s orbit, which, like so many things in space exploration, is unprecedented. For now, the SLS is the best we have for getting back to the Moon.

Will you be watching the launch of NASA’s most powerful rocket yet?