(NASA / Twitter)
NASA has rolled out for the first time a super-heavy SLS rocket to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, which will send astronauts on lunar missions.
It is expected that the first flight of the rocket will take place in the summer of 2022.
The SLS is a promising super-heavy rocket that NASA plans to use for launches beyond Earth orbit. It has two stages and two side accelerators.
The initial version that NASA rolled out will be capable of lifting up to 90 tons of cargo, and in the future the carrying capacity will be doubled: first to 105 tons, and then to 130.
The SLS project uses a lot of developments from the Space Shuttle program and the unrealized Ares V rocket, which SLS is designed to replace.
The first stage uses four RS-25 engines designed for the Shuttle, and the lateral solid propellant boosters are based on the boosters of these spaceplanes.
Despite developments, the project turned out to be much more expensive than planned, and the first launch, which was originally scheduled for 2016, was repeatedly postponed.
NASA inspector Paul Martin recently announced that the cost of a single Orion launch on SLS is $4.1 billion.
2.2 of them are for the rocket itself, another 0.57 for the necessary ground expenses, and the rest is the cost of the American and European parts of the Orion spacecraft.
Last year, NASA decided to replace the rocket to launch an interplanetary mission to Europa from SLS to Falcon Heavy, the cost of the new launch contract was $178 million.
In October 2021, NASA fully assembled the SLS for the first time, along with the Orion spacecraft destined for lunar missions.
Subsequently, agency engineers tested the rocket for several months, and after successful tests, it was sent to the launch pad of the Kennedy Space Center to begin preparations for the first launch.
The rocket and service tower were transported on a self-propelled transporter for more than 10 hours, the distance between the assembly shop and the launch site is 6.5 kilometers.
In the first half of April, the SLS will be refueled to test the operation of all parts of the rocket's fuel system and ground infrastructure.
Then the fuel will be drained, and the rocket will be returned to the assembly shop to install squibs and make final preparations before the launch, which will not take place until June.
During its first flight, the rocket will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft into orbit around the Moon.
The next flight will take place no earlier than May 2024, and the crew will already take part in it, which will also fly around the Moon and return to Earth. The first moon landing is likely to take place in 2026.
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