NASA's new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, takes shape in giant hangar

NASA is one step closer to the moon. The space agency's next megarocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) is coming together ahead of its first planned launch later this year.


The behemoth's core stage arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, via barge on April 27, before rolling into the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), its home until launch.



The agency celebrated the milestone, which marked the first time that 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 is the first time that the complete flight unit has come together," Sean Arrieta of NASA's Exploration Ground Systems told Space.com in a recent interview. "We're all really excited."



This summer, the agency's new Orion spacecraft will be mated with the SLS and prepared to blast off on an uncrewed test flight around the moon later this year as part of the Artemis 1 mission. If all goes as planned, agency officials said that the flight could take place as early as November.