Space Launch System

Rare card · No. 49913

The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American two-stage super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. The primary launch vehicle for the Artemis program, SLS is designed to launch the four-person Orion spacecraft. The rocket first launched in November 2022, carrying the uncrewed Artemis I mission. Its only crewed launch has been for the Artemis II lunar flyby in April 2026, becoming the second launch vehicle to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), after NASA's Saturn V of the Apollo program. Development of SLS began in 2011 as a congressionally mandated replacement for the retiring Space Shuttle program and the cancelled Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles of the Constellation program, incorporating some hardware from both programs. Costing US$31.6 billion as of 2025, the project has been criticized for mismanagement, budget overruns, and delays, but ultimately succeeded in human spaceflight in 2026. All SLS launches take place from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space...

Read on Wikipedia · Image https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/, Public domain