Â鶹Éç

Available for over a year

The SLS, or Space Launch System, is part of Nasa's Artemis programme that aims to return people and equipment to the surface of the Moon around the middle of this decade. It's 100 metres tall and weighs 2.5 million kilos. It's so big that it's taken around 11 hours to move it from its hangar to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.  There are more tests to be done before it can send an uncrewed test capsule around the Moon a little later this year. It will have the thrust to not only send astronauts far beyond Earth but additionally equipment and cargo so that those crews can stay away for extended periods. Nasa head Bill Nelson explains how the project aims to learn more about utilising the resources of the Moon, with the ambition that that will help future missions to Mars. In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he says that cosmonauts and astronauts on the space programme will continue to get along together, regardless of where they are from. It's so big because, "You gotta have enough thrust to get our crew and the capsule all the way to the Moon," says Bill Nelson. Photo: Nasa's next-generation Moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket heads to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US March 17, 2022 Credit: Reuters