Did a flying saucer just land at NASA? It sure looks like it.
This is actually the weather cover for the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is currently gearing up to launch the Artemis 3 mission in mid-2027.
What is it?
Aboard NASA's Pegasus barge, floating out in the Atlantic ocean, sits what looks like a classic, sci-fi movie UFO flying saucer. With some flashing lights, this thing flying around in the sky would cause quite a commotion. But it's actually a critical piece of hardware for NASA's Artemis program returning humans to the moon.
The Pegasus barge is a large cargo ship — it's a whopping 310 feet (94.4 meters) long — designed to carry the massive core stage of NASA's SLS megarocket. As the agency marches forward with its plans for Artemis 3, a crewed flight to low Earth orbit that will serve as a key test ahead of future missions to the moon, the SLS prepares for launch.
Once stacked on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, this flying saucer will actually serve as a weather cover, protecting the rocket's core stage and its thermal systems from the often turbulent and unpredictable weather on the Space Coast.
Why is it incredible?
It is always fun when science fiction and science fact meet. The design of this weather cover could not be closer to the flying saucer designs that have flown across screens in sci-fi flicks for the 1950s and '60s to today. It's interesting to wonder whether these familiar images of flying saucers somehow inspired this functional design.
But however inspiration struck, this weather cover will serve an incredible purpose. It will shield the rocket's core stage, the tallest rocket stage NASA has ever built, which holds hundreds of thousands of gallons of propellant and supports the weight of the rocket's upper stage, payload, and the Orion crew capsule. The safety of the Artemis astronauts and the success of these missions depend on the rocket launching perfectly, and every single piece, including this weather cover, are part of ensuring that success.
