Space Launch System
134 articles
NASA chief defends selection of all-male Artemis 3 crew
During an event Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center, NASA revealed the astronauts who had been selected for next year's Artemis 3 mission, a flight to test rendezvous and docking procedures in low-Earth orbit with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
VideoLaunch preview: NASA to launch Artemis 2, its first Moon-bound mission with astronauts since 1972
The four astronauts will spend more than nine days onboard their Orion spacecraft and is poised to pass the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39B is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 UTC).
VideoArtemis 2 astronauts arrive in Florida ahead of April 1 launch attempt
The crew is expected to land in Florida around 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 UTC) on Friday. April 1 at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 UTC) is the earliest launch opportunity during a six-day window.
NASA ready for another shot at launching Artemis 2 moon mission
At the conclusion of a two-day flight readiness review, "all the teams polled 'go' to launch and fly Artemis 2 around the moon, pending completion of some of the work before we roll out to the launch pad," said Lori Glaze, associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters.
VideoNASA contract confirms selection of ULA’s Centaur 5 as new upper stage for the SLS rocket
The upper stage of United launch Alliance’s Vulcan rockets performed successfully across the first four flights of the rocket since 2024. The first launch of a Centaur 5 as part of a Space Launch System rocket would be on the Artemis 4 mission.
SLS rocket hauled back to VAB for repairs
A 6.6-million-pound Apollo-era crawler-transporter rolled up the ramp to pad 38B on Tuesday and was positioned directly under the 3.5-million-pound Space Launch System rocket and its 11.3-million-pound mobile launch platform.
NASA’s Artemis 2 rocket hit by new problem expected to bump moonshot into early April
Engineers ran into problems repressurizing the Artemis 2 moon rocket’s upper stage helium tanks overnight Friday, a problem that will require rolling the huge rocket off the launch pad and back to its processing hangar for troubleshooting. The work will push the already delayed mission from March to at least early April, officials said Saturday.
Moon mission fueling test concludes with no major problems
The practice countdown began Tuesday night, kicking off a carefully choreographed series of steps to ready the world's most powerful operational rocket for what amounted to a simulated launch Thursday at 8:42 p.m. EST. Controllers then carried out additional tests to make sure the team can recycle, hold and restart an actual launch countdown as needed to handle unexpected problems.
VideoNASA to attempt second full fueling test of its Space Launch System rocket
The operation comes a week after NASA conducted a so-called ‘confidence test’ on Feb. 12, which was the process of loading some liquid hydrogen on the rocket’s core stage.
NASA loading liquid hydrogen aboard Artemis 2 rocket in unannounced test
NASA is loading liquid hydrogen aboard its Space Launch System moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday for an unpublicized but crucial test of the repairs made to a leaky umbilical that derailed a countdown rehearsal on Feb. 2.