NASA prepares for moon mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA is a step closer to flying back toward the moon. The space agency's megarocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is coming together ahead of its planned first launch. The core stage arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, via barge on April 27 from Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, before rolling into the launch-based Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It marks the first time all of the rocket's components were in the same place and the first time a rocket bound for deep space was in the VAB since the end of the Apollo era. This summer, the Orion spacecraft will be mated with the SLS and prepared to blast off on an uncrewed test flight around the moon as part of the Artemis 1 mission in November. If all goes well, an Artemis 2 crewed-mission could follow in 2023. NASA put the engines, which were built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, through their paces earlier this year with a pair of hot-fire tests s Stennis Space Center. (Source: Space.com 06/21/21) NASA's new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, takes shape in giant hangar | Space