NASA’s Giant New Moon Rocket Prepares for Historic Launch
NASA’s massive new moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), began its slow journey to the launchpad on Saturday, marking a significant milestone in the agency’s ambitious plan to send astronauts on a lunar fly-around mission. The rocket, standing at 322 feet tall, is set to embark on an out-and-back trip to the moon as early as February, pending a successful fueling test.
The SLS rocket, weighing an impressive 11 million pounds, made its way from the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building at a pace of 1 mile per hour, with thousands of space center workers and their families gathering to witness the historic event. The rocket’s transporter, which was used during the Apollo and shuttle eras, was upgraded to accommodate the SLS’s extra weight.
A New Era in Space Exploration
The upcoming mission, crewed by astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will mark the first time humans have flown to the moon since Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972. The crew will embark on a 10-day journey, flying around the moon but not landing on its surface. This mission is a crucial step towards NASA’s ultimate goal of returning humans to the lunar surface by the mid-2020s.
According to NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, the agency is waiting to conduct a fueling test of the SLS rocket on the pad in early February before confirming a launch date. “We’ve, I think, zero intention of communicating an actual launch date” until completing the fueling demo, Isaacman told reporters. The space agency has a narrow window of five days to launch in the first half of February before the opportunity slips into March.
A Legacy of Space Exploration
The SLS rocket’s journey to the launchpad is a testament to the progress made by NASA in its pursuit of space exploration. The agency’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface, has been years in the making. The program’s success will depend on the outcome of this mission, which will provide valuable insights and data for future lunar missions.
As the world waits with bated breath for the launch, NASA’s astronauts are eager to make history. “They are so fired up that we are headed back to the moon,” Wiseman said, referring to the Apollo astronauts who paved the way for this mission. “They just want to see humans as far away from Earth as possible discovering the unknown.” For more information on NASA’s new moon rocket and its mission, visit Here
Image Source: www.latimes.com
