The rocket’s next stop will be Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and as early as November, the launchpad. The test appears to have gone well, following an earlier test in January that cut off after about 67 seconds because of errors and equipment problems.
On Thursday, NASA set out for a second time to prove that the Space Launch System is ready to take flight, conducting a continuous “hot fire” of its engines for more than eight minutes. The launch vehicle is central to the agency’s Artemis program to return humans to the lunar surface, and later, land them on Mars. The rocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty, pedestal and all, and is the cornerstone of NASA’s astronaut ambitions. Framed by the industrial test platform to which it is mounted, the Space Launch System’s core section is a gleaming, apricot-colored column cast into relief by twisting pipes and steel latticework. Update, March 18: This essay has been revised to reflect that the Space Launch System completed its second hot-fire test.Įleven years in the making, the most powerful NASA-built rocket since the Apollo program at last stands upright.
