Okay, space fans. The time is almost here. NASA is about to launch its next-generation rocket for the first time and send it beyond the Moon. It’s going to be a wild time, but honestly, there’s been a lot going on here on Earth, too, and if you’re anything like me, you might be in the market for a quick refresher on what exactly happens when NASA’s next big thing blows up.
Consider this your SLS cheat sheet as NASA prepares for its big launch on September 3rd.
What is SLS?
It stands for Space Launch System.
It sounds like a very boring name.
Is. But it’s also extremely functional, as it refers to a system for launching things into space.
What kinds of things can SLS launch?
Lots of things!
SLS and Orion taxiing to the launch pad Image: NASA / Kim Shiflett
Wow, how will he do it?
It will light up like a 5.75 million pound firework. These boosters, the two white cylinders on either side of the rocket, are 17 stories tall and filled with a solid rocket fuel called polybutadiene acrylonitrile. They burn six tons of this fuel every second, according to NASA. In case you’re wondering what that is in relation to jumbo jets, NASA has you covered. Each “generates more thrust than 14 four-engine jumbo commercial jets.” The two boosters will generate 75 percent of the boom that lifts the rocket and its payload off the ground.
But that’s only part of the rocket’s power. There’s also the 212-foot-tall center stage—the big orange part of the rocket. On launch day, it will be filled with 537,000 liters of liquid hydrogen and 196,000 liters of liquid oxygen, which will power the four engines on the bottom.
All that fuel and engineering translates into a boat full of power. In 8.5 minutes after launch, the SLS capsule and the Orion it carries will be traveling at speeds of about 17,000 miles per hour.
What is the Orion capsule?
I know, another name. Therefore, SLS will carry a spacecraft called Orion. (In the pictures, it’s the white part on top of the rocket.) It is in no way related to the Orion gaming gadget.
Photo by Loren Grush/The Verge
Orion is designed for missions beyond Earth orbit, with potential destinations of the Moon or Mars. It has an extremely bright appearance that will help it cope with the extreme temperatures in space, a next-generation heat shield to cope with re-entry into the atmosphere and a launch abort system that could put it to safety the astronauts if something goes wrong during the launch. In space, it can support four people on a mission for 21 days.
Orion first flew into space on a test flight in 2014. Since then, it has gone through many tests to prepare for this next flight, which has been delayed many times. (More on those delays later.) In 2020, it looked like there might be a chance it would be delayed once again when some engineers discovered a problem with a power component for the spacecraft. Trying to fix it would have taken months and they have backup systems available so they will fly the spacecraft as is.
Will there be people inside Orion?
No. There will be three mannequins tied up inside, looking varying degrees of terror. One is named Commander Moonikin Campos and will wear one of the flight suits that astronauts will wear on future missions. It will be accompanied by the limbless Helga and Zohar, which will carry radiation detectors to find out what radiation the astronauts might be exposed to during a trip to the Moon. Zohar will wear a vest that can protect against radiation. Helga won’t. Good luck, Helga.
Helga and Zohar strapped to their seats in Orion. Commander Moonikin Campos’ feet are visible in the upper left. Image: NASA / Frank Michaux
One of the main reasons there won’t be astronauts on board is that this entire launch is a giant test flight. It’s the first time the SLS has made its big space debut, and putting people on a rocket before seeing if it can actually work seems like a very bad choice. (NASA very briefly considered doing exactly that, then decided against it.) Instead, Artemis I will be dedicated to testing the performance of Orion and SLS and pushing them to their limits before people get on board.
What is Artemis I?
Oh boy, another name! Artemis I is the mission being carried out by SLS and Orion. Its main goal is to ensure that Orion can work in space and that it can bring astronauts safely back to Earth after the mission is complete. As a bonus, it will fly farther from Earth than any spacecraft designed for humans has ever flown, reaching a distance of 280,000 miles from Earth.
During the course of its mission, it will travel a grand total of about 1.3 million miles, toward the Moon, then enter orbit around the Moon for several days before returning to Earth. The maps for this mission look like an extremely large and very messy figure 8.
Itinerary of Artemis I. Image: NASA
Are there other Artemis quests?
Yes! If all goes well with Artemis I, NASA will move on to Artemis II, which will be the first crewed flight of the SLS / Orion combo. It’s also the first manned mission back to the Moon since the Apollo era, but the astronauts on board won’t land on the Moon — they’ll just orbit for a while and then return to Earth.
The ultimate goal is for NASA to land the first woman on the moon during the Artemis III mission, which is still in the works. In August, NASA announced several potential landing sites near the moon’s south pole.
Yes, that’s ringing. How long has this been in the works?
The Artemis program? Since 2019, when then-Vice President Mike Pence announced that NASA was returning to the Moon and would arrive there in 2024.
Fun fact! It got its name because in mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, and there’s just a lot of nostalgia for the Apollo missions, for better or for worse.
So, are they going back to the moon in 2024?
Absolutely not. Right now they’re shooting for 2025, but that’s still pretty ambitious.
What about the SLS project? I feel like I’ve been hearing about this for longer.
You sure have. Its origins date back to around 2010, when the United States was moving away from the space shuttle and toward other modes of space transportation. Parts started out as a project called Constellation that was canceled for being too expensive. It was then revived as the SLS in 2010, with a target to launch in 2017. This fell through to 2018 and continued to slip as the project was notoriously delayed and over budget.
For a full look at the story, check out our story here.
But… are they ready to leave now?
Well, we all hope so. The dress rehearsal for that launch was cut short in June due to a hydrogen leak, but engineers thought they had fixed all the rocket’s last minute tasks and NASA decided it was a launch for on its first release. try on August 29.
Then, on launch day, NASA engineers couldn’t get one of the rocket’s four engines into the proper temperature range, so the launch was ultimately scrubbed. The space agency is “not ready to give up” and currently expects to launch on September 3, at 2:17 PM ET.
What else will be on board?
In addition to Helga, Zohar and Commander Moonikin Campos, there will be a few other science experiments aboard Artemis I. During the mission, the spacecraft will deploy 10 small satellites called CubeSats. Some will map ice on the lunar surface, one will deploy a giant solar sail and head for an asteroid, and one will attempt to land on the Moon. On board will also be a science experiment that will take yeast where no yeast has gone before in an attempt to study deep space radiation.
Shaun the sheep poses with a model of the Orion capsule Image: ESA / Aardman
Also inside the capsule will be a stuffed sheep named Shaun. Also, Snoopy. Both Shaun and Snoopy will serve as zero-gravity beacons, floating around Orion once it reaches microgravity.
When will SLS launch?
The release window opens on September 3rd at 2:17 PM ET. NASA will have a live broadcast on Monday, with coverage of the launch beginning Saturday morning.
Update 09/01/2022 at 10:30am ET: This article has been updated with information about the August 29th patch and the upcoming release window of September 3rd.