Watch NASA's SLS Megarocket Get Ready for New US Moon Missions (Video)

NASA is hard at work getting its new, moon-bound rocket and spacecraft ready for Artemis 1, the next mission of the agency's program, which aims to eventually land humans on the lunar surface.

This new video from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center goes piece by piece, top to tail, through the new Space Launch System (SLS). This is the powerful rocket expected to bring astronauts to the moon, and it may also send robotic spacecraft to faraway destinations in the solar system, such as Jupiter's moon Europa.

In the video, short clips show the progression of each piece of the system. Technicians in the lab put together parts such as the Orion crew spacecraft, the Launch Abort System and various adapters. Some hardware is shown being moved around the facilities of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, such as a liquid oxygen tank that will help fuel one of the stages of SLS. Other pieces are shown in action, such as a test firing of the RS-25 engines that will boost the core stage of SLS off the ground.

Video: NASA's Artemis Moon Program Hardware Gears Up
Related:
Here's NASA's Full Plate of Lunar Missions Before Moon 2024 Return

A structural test article for NASA's Space Launch System rocket is loaded onto the test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Jan. 14, 2019. At 149 feet (45 meters) long, it is the largest piece of hardware for the rocket's core stage. (Image credit: Tyler Martin/NASA)


"NASA's powerful Space Launch System rocket and NASA's Orion spacecraft are making progress to the pad," the agency said in a description of the video on YouTube. "Over the course of their development, the rocket and spacecraft have moved from design and manufacturing to testing and assembly and integration. Some of the hardware has even been delivered to the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center."

Artemis 1 is scheduled to lift off in mid-2020, using the Space Launch System to boost the Orion spacecraft into space. Without a crew, Orion will loop around the moon and deploy several small satellites before making a reentry in Earth's atmosphere. The first crewed mission is expected no earlier than 2022, while the first moon landing has been scheduled for 2024.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace