The capabilities of tomorrow are enabled by the progress we make today.
Progress continues to be made on NASA’s next big thing, Space Launch System (SLS), which will be the largest rocket in the world. It will launch astronauts into deep space – further than we have ever gone before.
Last week at Orbital ATK’s Utah facility, one of the segments that will propel the rocket has moved a step closer towards completion. This segment is part of the solid rocket boosters.
SLS will have two solid-rocket boosters. Each of the boosters has five flight segments. The first of these segments was cast last week. This means that the insulated metal case was filled with propellant and was then allowed to solidify, or “cure” for several days.
This segment will later be integrated with four other segments, eventually making up one of the system’s two solid rocket boosters.
SLS will take off in 2018 for its first mission known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). It will travel thousands of kilometers past the moon to help prepare NASA for deep space missions. SLS will be carrying an unmanned Orion spacecraft, and will test the performance of the rocket and Orion as well as deep-space navigation and communication systems.
Check out more about SLS here!
For an overview of the rocket and its upcoming missions, check out NASA.gov.