The new rocket that NASA wants to use to send people to the moon in the coming years will make its first – still unmanned – flight in February next year. This was announced by the American space agency.
The 111 meter high rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is to put the Orion capsule, the spaceship for the future moon travelers, into orbit around the moon. The capsule will then return to Earth with the help of European engines.
It is the first flight in the Artemis program. With the Artemis missions, NASA wants to bring astronauts back to the moon for the first time in almost half a century. The success of the unmanned mission is a prerequisite for the next flight around the moon in 2023, which will be manned.
NOS op 3 made this explainer about the new moon program in 2019:
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