NASA Makes Big Progress Preparing SLS Rockets For Artemis II Crewed Moon Mission

The Space Launch System rocket's unprecedented power and capabilities will send missions farther and faster throughout the solar system.

NASA and its international partners across the country have made incredible progress preparing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission. (Photos: NASA)

New Delhi: NASA and its international partners across the country have made incredible progress preparing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission. 

Teams are still preparing the SLS rocket for its debut flight with the launch of Artemis I, which will be an uncrewed mission. 

Major parts for Artemis III, IV, and V are also being manufactured and tested, a NASA statement said. 

John Honeycutt, SLS program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama said that the SLS team is not just building one rocket but manufacturing several rockets for exploration missions and future SLS flights beyond the initial Artemis launch.

He said that the SLS rocket's unprecedented power and capabilities will send missions farther and faster throughout the solar system.

How Will The Space Launch System Rocket Power The Artemis Missions?

SLS has two solid rocket boosters and four RS-25 engines. It produces more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch each Artemis mission beyond Earth's orbit and onward to the Moon. 

The rocket is equipped with some of the largest, most advanced, and most reliable hardware elements ever built for space exploration, NASA said on its website. 

SLS will deliver propulsion in phases to power NASA's next-generation deep space missions. The core stage, with its four RS-25 engines and the twin boosters, will fire to propel SLS off the launch pad into orbit. 

The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will provide the in-space propulsion to send NASA's Orion spacecraft and its crew on a precise trajectory toward the Moon.

The boosters and RS-25 engines, which are the main propulsion elements of the rocket, are in the final stages of assembly. 

NASA's International Partners For Artemis

Northrop Grumman is the lead contractor for the boosters. The casting of all the major segments of the booster for both Artemis II and Artemis III have been completed in Utah.

Aerojet Rocketdyne is the RS-25 lead contractor. It is readying the RS-25 engines for the next three SLS flights after Artemis I.

Boeing is the lead contractor for the SLS core stage. NASA and Boeing are building core stages for Artemis II, Artemis III, and Artemis IV in Michoud, US. 

The cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapters and Orion stage adapters for Artemis II and Artemis III are being manufactured by crews from Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama, and Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama.

NASA will land the first woman and the first person of colour on the lunar surface with the Artemis mission. 

The space agency will establish long-term exploration at the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars. 

NASA's SLS, Orion spacecraft, and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon are the space agency's foundation for deep space exploration.