Our First Views of NASA’s Long-Awaited Megarocket, Fully Stacked and on the Launch Pad

A trip to the Moon

SLS at the launch pad on the morning of March 18, 2022. Photo: NASA

For Artemis 1, SLS will launch the Orion capsule to the Moon on a 25-day mission. The uncrewed spacecraft will spend six days in a retrograde lunar orbit and then return to Earth. Artemis 2 will see astronauts make the same journey, and Artemis 3 aims to actually land them on the lunar surface.

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An illustration of an astronaut kneeling on the lunar surface and letting Moon dust fall through their fingers

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A rendering of Boeing's EUS upper stage for SLS in flight above the Earth

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Mark your calendars.

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