The large rocket "SLS" = Space Launch System, which will be used for future lunar exploration plans, has entered the preparatory stage for launch, and on the 17th, a test was conducted to move the rocket to the launch pad.
NASA = US Aeronautics and Space Administration aims to explore the moon by astronauts for the first time since the Apollo program in the international lunar exploration program "Artemis Program".
In this plan, the large rocket "SLS" that launches the spacecraft used for flight to the moon has entered the preparatory stage for the first launch, and on the 17th, a test was conducted to actually move it to the launch pad.
The rocket, which emerged from the assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was mounted on a giant vehicle called a crawler and headed for the launch pad at a slow speed of 1.6 km / h, about 6 km away.
With a total length of approximately 98 meters, the rocket can carry up to 27 tons of spacecraft and cargo into orbit around the moon.
The first launch is scheduled for May or later, and the onboard spacecraft "Orion" will fly unmanned around the moon and collect data for future manned flights.
NASA initially aimed to get astronauts to land on the moon by 2024, but due to the delay in rocket development, there is growing interest in the timing of its realization.