A NEW ERA IN Space Exploration
Welcome to the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s newest and biggest rocket ever!
Although delayed by half a decade and plagued by cost overruns and perennial funding setbacks, the SLS is billed as the new Apollo Saturn V, or the rocket that took Americans to the Moon. at is the destination for the SLS as part of a series of Moon missions that go by the name Artemis. (In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and is considered the goddess of the Moon.)
Topped with an Orion crew capsule, the SLS is to launch later this year for an unmanned test ight around the Moon and back. NASA sees Artemis as just the rst leg toward journeys into deep space, including Mars and beyond. Eventually, it will very likely be accompanied (and maybe even superseded) by SpaceX’s Starship in this next phase of space exploration.