CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: NASA’s giant Space Launch System moon rocket has been rolled-out to its launchpad ahead of its debut test flight this month.
The 322-foot-tall rocket with an uncrewed astronaut capsule is scheduled to begin its first space mission on 29th August.
The launch of the rocket will be part of NASA’s long-delayed Artemis program, the multibillion-dollar effort to return astronauts to the Moon and practice for future missions to Mars.
Developed over the past decade under a program led by Boeing, the Space Launch System emerged from its assembly building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 16, to begin its four-mile journey to the launchpad.
On the top of the rocket is NASA’s Orion astronaut capsule, which was built by Lockheed Martin Corp and is designed to separate from the rocket in space, ferry astronauts to the moon and rendezvous with a separate spacecraft that will take them to the lunar surface.
The empty capsule will launch atop the Space Launch System on 29th August as part of the Artemis 1 test, before returning to Earth 42 days later.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has backup launch dates on 2nd September and 5th September, in the event of bad weather or technical issues delaying the launch.
