NASA Artemis II booster arrives at KSC ahead of 2025 mission to Moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Artemis II SLS rocket booster arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.
Next year, the booster will help propel astronauts on a trip around the moon. Shipped from a NASA manufacturing facility in New Orleans last Tuesday, it arrived in Central Florida today.
Standing at 212 feet tall, it is the largest core stage NASA has ever produced. According to NASA, the booster comprises five major elements, including two massive propellant tanks with more than 733,000 gallons of super-chilled liquid propellant.
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During launch, the booster will operate for about eight minutes, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send four astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft toward the moon.
"The one thing that we didn't have on Artemis I is crew, and having the crew involved in all of this is exciting," explained Artemis II Mission Manager Matthew Ramsey. "Safety is very important. Keeping the crew safe and bringing them home safe is the ultimate thing that we're trying to push for."
NASA's Artemis II SLS rocket booster arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
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The mission is still a long way off. The next step involves outfitting the booster inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where engineers will join it with segments to form the rocket’s twin solid rocket boosters.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is the only rocket capable of sending Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the moon in a single launch. The Artemis II launch is scheduled for September 20-25, after being delayed from its original launch window in November.